


The Billionaire Bachelor

by sandys18



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Reality TV, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Suspense, no island!Oliver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-02-19 20:13:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 50,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2401451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandys18/pseuds/sandys18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver is the CEO of Queen Consolidated (there's no Arrow in this version) and Felicity is his EA. In order to change his image and the company's image he has to go on a show called the "The Billionaire Bachelor" (Because apparently that's what all the playboy billionaires are doing these days to change their image) But things take a different turn when Felicity becomes a contestant.</p><p>Rated M for the last chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for KarenfrmMD for the ideas and for beta-ing this chapter
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this story or any other thing you might recognize.Just the crazy plot is mine. 
> 
> This story is only published in ff.net and A03 and should not be posted anywhere else without permission.

"Explain to me why I have to do this again?" Oliver asked his EA as he walked through the hallways of the very popular TV station.

Felicity fixed her glasses as she strutted along with him. "Your company needs a new image, a friendlier one. And you need a new image!" She stressed on the last point, pointing her finger at him. "And, being on 'Billionaire Bachelor', would certainly help that cause. I mean, it did help the last billionaire that was on the show." Her short tight skirt only allowed her to take small steps. So when he took one step, she had to take almost two.

'The Billionaire Bachelor' was the cheesiest show he had ever seen. If not for his sister, Thea, who watched the show religiously, he wouldn't know anything about the damn show. He would rather do something more adventurous. "Couldn't I have done a show like 'The Amazing Race'?" Oliver whined.

Felicity frowned at him, "Like I explained to you last week, yesterday and this morning, 'The Billionaire Bachelor' is the newest and most talked about show on TV right now and hopefully this will help people understand that you're not just the Casanova that everyone seem to think you are. To let them know that you in fact have changed."

A woman smiled at Oliver from inside one of the glass offices that they passed.

"But, Felicity, I am the Casanova everyone thinks I am," he said, winking at the young girl standing behind the glass wall.

Felicity scoffed, "It's not all that you are… that's what I'm saying. But anyway, if my memory serves me right you haven't gone out on a date in more than six months. And I haven't sent any 'Sorry, it's not you, it's me' flowers to anyone on your behalf in a very long while." She pushed opened a massive glass door which led to a boardroom.

Oliver couldn't believe it really had been that long since his last date. He should probably do something about it and soon.

"Ah, Mr. Queen, I'm Sebastian Blood… I'm the producer of the show." A brown haired man came up to him and extended his hand.

Oliver shook the man's hand bit apprehensively. Sebastian Blood looked like one of those money hungry, rating hungry leach of a producers. Behind the him, standing in front of a green accented wall, were five of his colleagues- two women and three middle aged men.

"Mr. Queen, I hope Miss Smoak has briefed you about the show?" Sebastian said as they all sat around the oval glass table.

"Yes, she has." Too many times in fact. But, he still wasn't convinced that he should be partaking in this ridiculous show. Oliver looked to his right, where Felicity was. She was busy going through their contracts for the umpteenth time.

"And I hope she explained to you about the changes we're going to implement this season?" the producer asked as he adjusted his tie.

Felicity looked up from the papers, "What changes? No one told me about any changes!"

"We sent you an email this morning," one of the executives chimed in.

Concern took over Felicity's otherwise bright features. "I'm sorry, Oliv… Mr. Queen, I wasn't aware of it." She grabbed her tablet and quickly browsed through her email account.

Oliver almost caught her hand to reassure her and then stopped himself. In the public eye, he was just her boss and she, his EA. However, in reality, they were more than that. She was more than that to him - a trusted friend and a partner. In little more than three years, she had become an integral part of his life. To the point he was unable to take any business or personal decisions without her. He relied on her, sometimes more than he should.

Her eyebrows went up when she finally came across the said mail. "If by this morning, you meant less than half an hour ago, I haven't updated Mr. Queen on the changes." She glared at the producer sitting across the table from her.

Oliver found himself smiling at Felicity's red and wound up face. "That's fine, Miss Smoak. I'm sure Mr. Blood wouldn't mind explaining the changes to me now." He turned to Sebastian and gave a warning look.

The producer's face crumpled hearing the accusation brought forth. "I'm sorry, I told one of my assistants to email the details to you this morning, but…"

"Never mind about that, just explain the details to me now," Oliver instructed.

"Yes, of course, Mr. Queen." Sebastian put on a fake smile as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Normally, in our program, there would be ten contestants, but this time around, we've decided to bring it down to five."

"That doesn't sound like a problem…" Oliver felt that it was more of a relief. Less number of contestants may mean fewer days spent on the show.

"Yes... and we thought instead of using five random contestants, we'll invite five women from your past." He handed Oliver a file. "And here are some of the women we managed to track down and most of them have agreed to appear on the show."

Felicity put her tablet on the table. "What? That's ridiculous!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and shot a menacing glance at the producers.

"I don't think this is a good idea." But still, out of curiosity, Oliver opened the file placed in front of him.

"Mr. Queen?" Felicity was calling his name, but he was too busy reading the profiles of his past conquests.

The first profile was of 'Helena Bertinelli' one of his crazy ex-girlfriends. She never understood when he said they were done, it meant they were done.

The next one was of Shado. A sweet girl that wasn't getting the attention she deserved from her boyfriend, who also used to be Oliver's personal trainer.

McKenna Hall's profile was next. She was the police officer, who almost arrested him for a DUI few years back. After a night of passionate love making, which led to her never arresting him, he dated her for a few months. Just because she had a gun and she came from a family with lots of brothers that also were police officers.

The fourth profile was of 'Isabel Rochev'. She was a gold digger, but was great in bed. Being a former Russian ballet dancer, certainly had made her a very limber woman.

He turned to the next profile. It contained a picture of Sara Lance. The main reason she was ever into him was because her sister was into him. And he was into her only because he used to be a complete jerk.

He flipped over to the last profile. His fingers tightened on the edges of the file as his eyes fell upon the picture of 'Laurel Lance'. She was Sara's sister. Laurel was the only woman he ever believed to have been in love with. If there was or had been a possibility for a playboy like him to even think about settling down, he always believed it was with a woman like Laurel Lance.

"Did Laurel agree to be on the show?" His voice came out softer than he expected and his eyes stayed locked on the picture of the brunette.

"It wasn't easy to convince her. But she agreed in the end," Sebastian replied, his eyes gleaming with the hope that Oliver would agree to do the show.

"Mr. Queen, you cannot possibly be considering this?" Felicity grumbled next to him.

"I'm not!" Oliver put the file on the table. "But, just out of curiosity, who else agreed?"

"Oliver?" Felicity muttered in a low voice, which only he could hear.

Sebastian leaned forward and took the file back, "Helena Bertinelli, Mckenna Hall and Isabel Rochev."

"What happened with the other two?" Oliver pried. He could hear Felicity mumbling her protests in his right ear.

Sebastian turned the pages and stopped at Shado's profile. "Shado Wilson as she's known now is married and is pregnant. Sara Lance just said that she's not interested in men anymore."

Somehow he wasn't all that surprised about what he had heard, especially what he heard of Sara. This suddenly began to look like a second chance at a different life disguised as TV show. He felt this maybe his chance to right some wrongs that he had done by these women and show them he was a changed man. More in particular, he thought that this might give him a chance to try and mend things with Laurel. Although, he would never want to let some TV station make a circus out of his life.

"I'm sorry, I won't be doing this show." He stood up to leave.

Felicity heaved a sigh of relief as she, too, stood up.

"That's sad to hear. We were short of a contestant anyway. I guess it's a good thing we have Bruce Wayne to fall back on." Sebastian gathered his documents and got up.

"Wait, what? Bruce Wayne wants to do the show?" Oliver's brows arched at the center. Bruce Wayne, ironically, was both his friend and his nemesis. There was no real animosity between the two, but they were fiercely competitive.

"Oli… Mr. Queen!" Felicity warned as if she already knew what he was about to do.

"As soon as he got to know you were interested, we were contacted by his assistant," a young female executive replied.

"I'm going to do this show," Oliver announced leaving Felicity no chance to give her two cents.

"That's wonderful!" Sebastian flashed his sleazy smile. "So, then we'll arrange everything and, hopefully, we'll be able to start by end of next week. But, we still need one more contestant."

"What about her?" One of the male members of the production team pointed at Felicity.

Oliver turned to his blonde EA, who looked uncharacteristically speechless.

"Boss and his secretary. I love the idea! And the camera will just love her," Sebastian added with a wide grin.

"No!" Felicity said bluntly. "And for your information, I'm actually an Executive Assistant! Anyway, isn't it supposed to be women from his past and women he has dated?"

"I'm sure we can spin something." Sebastian looked around at his team, who nodded along.

A light bulb went off in Oliver's head. If he were to do this show, it would be great to have someone from his team on the inside. She could be his own personal spy. She could maybe even talk him up to Laurel. "Can you guys give Miss Smoak and me a moment?" Oliver requested.

"Yes… of course." Sebastian gestured his team to follow him outside.

The moment the door closed behind them, Oliver felt Felicity's finger poking at his chest. "No! No! No! Whatever you have to say, won't change my mind!"

"But, Felicity… I need my Girl Wednesday. You can be my spy. You can tell me what Lau… what the other girls think of me and help me out." Oliver pleaded catching both her wrists.

"It's Girl Friday! And, No! I don't want to do this. People already think we're sleeping together. And this would just confirm it." She pulled her hands out of his hold.

"Why would people think we're sleeping together?" This truly was news to Oliver. Scandalous affairs between bosses and assistants were common, but what would give anyone that impression about the two of them was hard for him to understand. They were very professional. At least he thought they were.

She put her hands on her hips, "Oliver, I basically do everything for you. We're always together. The only thing that we actually don't do is sleep together. Well… except for that one time, we both woke up in your bed together without knowing how we ended up there… or if anything happened."

"Nothing happened." He assured her for the hundredth time, even though he, too, wasn't so sure if anything had actually happened or not.

"That's not the point, Oliver! Forget about other people think of us. What about your mom? And Walter? What are they going to think? And what are we going to do when all of this is over?" she fumed.

"I will tell them why I want you there. You don't have to worry about them at all. I need you, Felicity…" He grabbed her hands again and gave her that look he knew she wouldn't be able to say no to.

"I hate you!" She shoved him weakly.

"Does that mean you would do it?" he asked.

Felicity nodded apprehensively. "I know I'm going to regret this, but if I'm going to do this I have few conditions…."

"Anything," Oliver said eagerly.

She bit her nails as she took her time to come up with her conditions. "First of all, you have to make sure I have a job to go to when all of this is over… And I need a month vacation paid by you to the destination of my choice."

"Deal!" He gave her his hand and she shook it rather tentatively.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and comments
> 
> Huge thanks to KarenfrmMD who gave me this idea and wanted me to write it, and thanks for betaing this chapter too! :D

There were few more minutes till they started filming. Oliver was standing at the bottom of the stairway waiting, just as the director had instructed. He looked at the five red roses placed on top of the stand on the left of him. A rose for each girl that would be competing to win his heart.

"Are you nervous?" the host, John Diggle, asked. John was a washed up 80's child star turned TV host. No one expected the kid actor with the catch phrase, ' _What did you say man?_ ' to win an Oscar, but no one had expected his career to turn out this way either. His first sitcom had turned him into an overnight sensation. But, like most stories in tinseltown went, he was typecasted and was pushed into becoming a star of several mediocre TV movies and a string of unsuccessful action flicks. However, most critics were now calling his venture into hosting reality shows as the beginning of the revival of his career.

"Not really," Oliver lied. He was indeed nervous. Actually, he thought this maybe the same fear, excitement and confusion a man standing at the altar waiting for his bride would feel. Except he wasn't waiting for just one woman, but four. Felicity didn't really count. In his mind she was just his partner in crime.

In truth, he now regretted ever forcing Felicity into joining the show. He now thought he would have been better off having her by his side giving him moral support, rather than having her stay in a mansion with his ex-girlfriends. Especially, since the producers have also insisted that she was not to carry out any duties as his EA while they were filming. Or else it would have been unfair to the other contestants.

The substitute EA was nowhere as efficient as Felicity. Nor was she any good at matching a tie to his shirt like Felicity was. Nor was her replacement was able to make him smile after yesterday's meeting that didn't go all that well for the company.

"I would be nervous if I were you, man. Four ex-girlfriends and one 'Wildcard Contestant?'" Diggle stated, emphasizing the last two words with air quotations.

'A wildcard contestant' was how Felicity would be introduced to the show. Oliver was supposed to act surprised when he found out Felicity was a contestant. While she was supposed to act surprised when she found out that her boss was the ' _The_ Billionaire' on 'The Billionaire Bachelor'.

The only people, who were not aware of this plan were the other participants, millions of viewers that would be watching the show and his sister. Thea, for the life of her, could not keep a secret. So they had to keep her in the dark about it all. If Thea ever got to know how contrived most parts of her favourite reality show was, she would undoubtedly be utterly devastated,.

They were, in fact, given a script to follow. The badly written one page script was somehow supposed to make the whole 'wildcard' thing seem more believable.

Oliver raised his brows at John Diggle. "Maybe you haven't seen me on the tabloids." He flashed the good ol' smirk that said, ' _I'm_ _the_ _Oliver Queen, nothing fazes_ _me_ '.

Although, according to Felicity, he hadn't graced the tabloids for quite some time with a hot date. But, Oliver Queen had done enough, dated enough models and celebrities to build a reputation that would last for years.

"Oh I've seen the tabloids." Diggle fixed his tie as someone came and powdered his face. "But, still, ex-girlfriends are a whole other deal. Do you have any idea what happens on these shows?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's going to be anything that I can't handle." He hoped.

"Let's hope so," Diggle echoed his thoughts.

Sebastian shouted from afar. "Everything's set? Let's begin!" After he gave few more cues, most of the crew scattered and disappeared out of sight. When everyone fell silent the cameras began to roll.

Diggle gave a little overview on the show and then he looked at Oliver. "Shall we meet the lovely ladies then?" he asked.

"Sure," Oliver nodded, adorning a fake smile.

"Then let's welcome our first contestant, Miss Helena Bertinelli," Diggle announced.

A dark haired woman dressed in a long black dress appeared at the top of the stairs case. Helena Bertinelli seemed as mysterious and wicked as Oliver remembered her to be. She slowly descended down the stairs with her gaze locked on him.

"Hello, Oliver." She finally came to stand before him bearing a teasing smile. "It's nice to see you again," she whispered before placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Good to see you too Helena," he said as he handed her one of the roses.

"It's going to be just like old times," she winked and walked passed him, deliberately brushing her shoulder against his.

"Miss Isabel Rochev," Diggle called the next participant and the brunette came into view.

She gently sauntered down, a hand sliding along the railing. Oliver's eyes immediately ran to the slit in Isabel's red dress that revealed her gorgeously long legs. The legs which he remembered straddling him. The ones that he learnt could be bent in quite a few ways that he didn't think was humanly possible. Until, he met her of course.

"Isabel," he presented her a rose and leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek.

Before he could react, she cupped his face and pressed her lips tightly on his. She pulled back slowly and grabbed the rose out of his hand. "This is going to be fun." She walked away, trailing a finger across his chest.

Oliver was sure he was done for. He had only met two of the women so far and he could already see the folly in his decision to be on the show. He should have just listened to Felicity. She was right. She was always right. It was a grave mistake to agree to be on a reality show with four ex-girlfriends, plus his EA, who apparently according to rumors, he had been sleeping with on a regular basis.

It was all Bruce Wayne's fault. It was Oliver's rivalry with the Gotham's prince that had lured him into this. He could just imagine Bruce smiling at his TV watching Oliver Queen's downfall.

Helena scoffed loudly from behind and Oliver turned to the sound. The two women were sitting as far away as possible from the other on the large couch. They were eyeing each other like two cats preying on a kill.

"Are you nervous, Oliver?" Diggle asked again, but in a more professional tone than earlier.

"No. Excited," Oliver quickly corrected. He didn't want anyone watching the show to think that the playboy, Oliver Queen, was worried over something as miniscule as meeting his old flames.

"Ok, then." Diggle grinned. "It's time to meet the next contestant, Miss Mckenna Hall." He turned his eyes to the stairs.

Oliver looked up and saw Mckenna. She seemed different. Her frizzy hair was now straight and her ' _I'm a cop and I don't care what people think of me'_ walk seemed long gone. It was fair to say Oliver was pleasantly surprised by her appearance. However, she appeared to be somewhat struggling to walk in her high heeled shoes and long glittery dress. It was the kind of outfit that the old Mckenna would not have ever been caught wearing.

"Hi," she uttered shyly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

He couldn't believe this was the same woman that had the ability to blare off a hundred choice words per minute. The same woman, who used to look condescendingly upon every woman that dared to wear makeup. "You look different… good different." He kissed her cheek and gave her a rose.

"Well, some things change people," she said it with a perfectly placed smile. But, there was a sting to her words that didn't go unnoticed by Oliver.

As she walked passed him, Diggle announced the entrance of the next contestant, "Let's welcome Miss Laurel Lance to the show. Shall we?"

Oliver's eyes flew up to the stairs.

Few seconds ticked away and there was no sign of her.

"Let's welcome Miss Laurel Lance," the host said again.

Just when Oliver was beginning to think that Laurel may have changed her mind last minute and run away, she finally emerged. She looked breathtakingly beautiful as always and suddenly being on the show felt worthwhile.

As he gazed at her, he was reminded that one-upping Bruce Wayne may not have been the only reason why he had agreed to do the show. He just had not been willing to admit to it openly.

She stood there a moment as though contemplating whether she should turn around and go or just walk down the stairs. Someone from the production team was heard urging her to start walking. She heaved in a breath and eventually came down the stairs.

Oliver snatched one of the two remaining roses. "Hey," he mumbled.

"Hey." She took the long stem of the rose between two fingers.

He stepped closer and brushed his lips against her cheek.

When he stepped back, she smiled weakly. "Who would have thought we'll meet again?"

"On a reality show? Never!" Oliver may have never thought he'll meet her on a TV show, but for the past five years, he had been secretly hoping to meet her again.

Laurel lifted the rose up to her nose and breathed in its rich scent. "See you around, I guess…"

Oliver followed her with his eyes as she walked up to where the other girls were seated.

She sat next to Mckenna, who quickly leaned in and whispered something into her ear. Laurel then whispered back to her. They both giggled like two teenage girls, much to the annoyance of the other two women seated beside them.

Oliver watched on, wishing he could hear what they were talking about and whether it was about him.

"Uhm…" Diggle cleared his throat. "Oliver, it's time to meet the wildcard entry," he reminded.

Oliver turned around and looked ahead, his mind still stuck on the brunette he had just kissed. "Ok, then."

"So, as you know, the four contestants that you've met so far, are women you've had some kind of a connection with, in the past. But this contestant that you're going to meet is from your present. And she doesn't know that you're here," John Diggle explained to him as well as to the camera. "Are you ready to meet her, Oliver?"

"I am," he replied.

"Alright, let's meet the wildcard contestant," Diggle said.

The familiar blonde popped up on cue. Gone were her glasses and pony tail. The woman standing there didn't quite look like his quirky EA. It wasn't the first time he had seen her all dolled up. Yet, he felt something strange and confusing upon seeing her in her fuchsia dress. Perhaps it was the whole setting or the shimmering light of the chandelier falling upon her face. Or maybe it was just the fact that he hadn't seen her for two days and he had simply missed her.

"Felicity?" He didn't have to act surprised, he was.

Felicity said the exact words written on the little one page script they were given, "Mr. Queen? I didn't know you were going to be here! I'm so surprised!" Her eyes went wide as she placed a hand on her cheek.

Her acting skills almost made him burst into a fit of laughter. She was either the worst actor in the world or she was overacting on purpose. Considering that she was not exactly ecstatic about the whole idea of her being a part of the show, he was inclined to believe it was the latter.

"Miss Smoak? I'm surprised to see you here too." His acting probably wasn't anything to write home about either. But he would rather blame it on the, 'on the nose dialogues' he was given. "I thought you said you were going on a vacation?"

"Oh, well, here I am…" She bit on her lower lip the moment she realized she had said something off script.

The woman seemed to possess some kind of a magical power to make him smile and forget everything else around him. "Yes, here you are." He too decided to abandon the stupid script and grabbed the last rose. "But, I'm glad you are here." He moved closer to plant a kiss on her blushing cheeks.

She gulped. "I'm glad you're here, too…. But, not that I wouldn't have been happy if it weren't you." She shook her head slightly and continued to ramble. "What I mean to say is I would have been happy if it were any other guy, too… not any guy… obviously, but any decent guy who is not some kind of a psychopath."

When he finally laid his lips on her soft warm cheeks, her babbles instantly stopped. He gently moved back and handed her the rose.

Her eyelids fluttered. "They can edit that whole bit out, right? The part where my brain lost control over what I was saying?" She guiltily looked at him and then at Diggle.

Diggle seemed as though he was struggling to keep a straight face. "Thank you, Miss Smoak."

"I guess I'll just go now and sit over there with the other girls," Felicity said as she bent the stem of the rose in the middle, almost to its breaking point.

"I guess so," Oliver added and somehow it had only served to agitate his EA.

Casting him a death glare she made her way over to the couch behind him.

Oliver turned around to face the girls. Each of them was beautiful and special to him in different ways. Some more than others. " _What have I gotten myself into?"_ he thought as he studied the five women.

The sparkling eyes and the nervous smile of the woman wearing the fuchsia dress caught his eye. And somehow he felt assured that everything would work out just fine.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Few hours after the whole introduction ceremony was over, Felicity found herself in the Billionaire Bachelor Mansion alone, with four of Oliver's ex-girlfriends. No Oliver, no hosts, but just the ex-girlfriends and of course all the cameras that were tracking her every move.

It took Felicity a while to even remotely get used to the idea of having cameras follow her around 24/7. Time to time, she would become so self-conscious that she would even have trouble walking like a normal person. The producers had ensured her that there were no cameras installed in the bathrooms and bedrooms. And, that knowledge was the only thing that was keeping her sane.

Felicity bit her nails as she looked around. The other girls were lounging in the living room in their extravagant nightwear, while she sat in a lone armchair in her usual jammies and her bunny slippers. She felt like the geeky girl she was back in high school - surrounded by beautiful cheerleaders, who thought that the world revolved around them.

Helena began to drum her fingers on her knee. "Well, this is boring!" she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Tell me about it," Isabel put aside the crossword puzzle that she had been trying to solve for the last few minutes.

"There's nothing on TV," Mckenna complained, as she flipped through the channels. The blue light of the TV flashed on and off on her face. "Maybe we should just go to our rooms?" She turned to Laurel sitting next to her on the sofa.

Laurel looked up from the book she was reading. "Well, we can't go, yet. We have to stay here at least till 9. That's the rule."

Clearly, it was the show's way of making sure some form of juicy drama transpired between the contestants. Longer they stayed together, higher the possibility of friction between the contestants to emerge. And bigger the drama, higher the ratings.

Helena scoffed. "We have a Little Miss Perfect amongst us, don't we?"

Laurel resumed her reading without saying anything in return.

"Why don't we play a game?" Isabel suggested.

Felicity stopped biting her nails and put her hand down. "What kind of a game?" She was bored without her precious tablet and Internet. So, whatever game they wanted to play, she was in.

"Truth or dare?" Helena asked.

The former ballerina, Isabel, looked the most enthusiastic of the lot. "Yeah, we'll get to know each other more." Somehow 'getting to know one another' didn't seem like Isabel's real intention.

While 'Truth or Dare' was not Felicity's favorite game in the world, she felt this would suffice as a way for her to learn more about the other contestants. After all, she was there to spy on them and then to somehow pass that information on to Oliver. "That sounds good." Seriously, how worse could it be than her friends daring her to kiss 'Eddy Holmes' in her basement, when she was fourteen. There was no way someone was going to slobber all over her tonight like Eddy did.

"So, you two in?" Isabel cast a glance at Mckenna and Laurel.

Mckenna shrugged and turned the TV off. "I guess I'm in…" She threw the remote onto the coffee table in front of her.

"What about you, Little Miss Perfect? Are you too perfect to join us?" Helena probed.

Laurel closed her book.

From where Felicity sat, she couldn't see the title of the book, but she could barely make out the picture of 'Lady Justice' on its cover. So, she assumed that the book must be about justice or law.

"As long as you guys remember we're not exactly alone here," Laurel alluded at the cameras.

"Don't worry, we won't ask you how good the sex was with Oliver … All of us already know that," Isabel laughed and Felicity nervously giggled along.

It was Felicity's first night with these girls from Oliver's past. And she was already beginning to feel as if she didn't belong there. They actually had a past with him, when all she had was that one morning, which they woke up in his bed without remembering what really happened the night before. And, according to him, nothing had really happened. In spite of their lack of clothing that had made her suspect otherwise.

"Ok, who wants to go first?" Isabel asked, but no one dared to even look at anyone. "Ok then, I'll choose… Mckenna, truth or Dare?"

After pondering over it for few seconds, Mckenna answered, "Dare."

Isabel smiled like a villain, who was secretly scheming to take over the world. The only thing missing was the mustache twirling. "Alright… I dare you to do a one minute striptease."

"What? Are you kidding me?" Mckenna's eyes went wide.

"You heard her," Helena chimed in.

Felicity suddenly began to have second thoughts about this game. How could she have been stupid enough to believe that things couldn't get worse than kissing 'Eddy Drooling Holmes'. "Isn't this supposed to be a family show?" Felicity pointed out quickly.

"It's on cable, Blondie! And anyway, they don't have to show things they don't want to." Helena put one leg over the other and sat back in her chair.

It seemed there was no getting out of it now. The only thing she could do now was to figure out what she should choose, when it was her time to play the game.

Isabel glowered at Mckenna. "Are you doing this or what?"

Mckenna reluctantly stood up and pulled her hair band out of her pony tail. Humming an unfamiliar tune, she started to dance. Mckenna slowly untied the loosely tied knot on her robe as she swayed back and forth and left to right.

Felicity had never seen such an unsexy striptease. She was no dancer either, but she was sure she could do better than Mckenna. The young cop had no rhythm and looked rather uncoordinated.

Isabel and Helena laughed amongst themselves, while Laurel just stared apathetically at the cop. Thankfully, Mckenna's time ran out just as she slid her robe off her shoulders and no one had to endure that torture for long.

"Thanks for that very…. Original dance," Isabel commented.

Mckenna slumped back on to the sofa muttering something to Isabel and then she cast her eyes on Laurel. "Alright, your turn, Laurel."

Laurel shifted in her chair uncomfortably. "I choose… truth." Her face immediately shrank as though she regretted the choice she had made.

Mckenna tied her hair into a little bun. "Why are you here? I mean, why do you want to be on this show?"

Laurel clasped her hands together. "What do you mean why am I here? I am here for the same reason all of you are!"

"Funny… I thought you were here because you're in debt," Isabel raised an eyebrow.

Laurel folded her arms in front of her chest and glared at Isabel. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you get disbarred because of your little drug addiction? You see, Laurel, I do my homework before I venture into anything. In fact, I know why all of you are here." Isabel smugly scanned the faces around her. Her stare settled on Felicity the last. "Even you!" She pointed her finger at her.

"Hmm?" Felicity pushed her glasses up and steadied them. Did Isabel really know that she was there being Oliver's Mata Hari?

"Little Miss Perfect isn't so perfect after all." Helena's remark had everyone diverting their attention back to the supposedly disbarred lawyer. "So, is what she's saying true? You're here just for the money?"

"I'm here because I want to give Oliver and I another chance." Laurel's eyes dodged everyone in the room and that certainly gave the impression that she was not being completely honest. "And I hope that's the reason why the four of you are here, too!" she summed up.

Her answer for some reason elicited a haughty laugh out of Helena.

"Ok, Helena… how about you? What do you choose? Truth or Dare?" Laurel spat, cutting Helena's laugh short.

Helena turned her eyes up at Laurel. "Whatever you choose for me is fine, Little Miss Perfect."

Laurel smiled slyly. "Then, tell me… Is it true your last two boyfriends have restraining orders against you? And is it true you had something to do with the disappearance of one of them?"

"Well, well, what do you know… Someone else has come all prepared, too." Isabel teased as she casually checked her perfectly done nails.

Helena looked quite amused by Laurel's accusations. "I'm impressed. But, you're forgetting that you get to ask only one question. So, I'll answer the first one. Yes. I'm not allowed to be in hundred yards of either one of them. It's not my fault that those guys were morons!"

"If you say so…" Laurel coolly opened her book again and started to read.

Laurel's little quip didn't seemed to have either riled or affected Helena in any way. She simply laughed a little and turned to Felicity. "Blondie! It's your turn now. What do you want to do?"

"Truth… No…Dare! No…" Felicity struggled. Whatever she would choose, she knew it would get her into trouble.

"Make up your mind…" Isabel ground out. "Honestly, I don't understand what Oliver ever saw in you. Well, I suppose it could be just convenience. Secretaries are always around and available."

"I'm an 'Executive Assistant'!" She enunciated each syllable clearly and sharply. The worst thing about being Oliver Queen's EA was people always misconstruing her as being a Secretary or a Personal Assistant. Although, in a way, anything was better than people assuming that she was his, mistress. "And, Oliver and I are not what most people think we are!" she cried.

Isabel muttered something under her breath, but Felicity couldn't really catch what it was. Although she didn't really need to hear to know that it probably wasn't something nice. The woman was a witch dressed in human skin.

"So, Blondie, what is it then?" Helena reminded her.

"Truth." She wasn't going to embarrass herself like Mckenna had.

Helena studied her head to toe and flashed a wicked smile. "How did your first time with Oliver come about?"

"The first time?" Felicity could feel all eyes on her. The other four girls seemed rather intrigued to learn more about their scandalous office romance. Even Laurel had put her book down to listen to her story. "I don't think it's a very interesting story…" She didn't want them to know that the story was virtually nonexistent. "Not that it's boring, but I don't think you would want to know the details."

"Of course, we do!" Mckenna interjected.

"But… It was just…" She took a deep breath and decided to bend the truth a little bit. "We never planned it to happen… I mean, we both got drunk at his birthday party and one thing led to another…" Suddenly, images of Oliver frantically kissing her neck while trying to rip her dress open flashed in her mind. She stopped her story midway and tried to analyze the images. She couldn't decide whether it was her imagination playing tricks on her or she was finally recalling things from that crazy night. "And we both woke up in his bed the next morning." She slurred confusedly and ended the story. Yet, her mind was still stuck on those images. It just couldn't be true. There was no way she was remembering things that happened so long ago, now! Maybe the months of wondering about what truly had transpired that night, had finally driven her crazy.

Felicity quickly shook her head as though to shake the silly thoughts out of her head. The doorbell rang repeatedly and her eyes ran in the direction of the front door. It kept on ringing, yet no one was willing to get up and answer it.

Laurel slammed her book shut. "I guess I'll go and check who it is." She stomped away towards the door. In a little while, Laurel returned with a little gold box and some sort of a letter. She sat down and kept the box on her lap. "Someone has left these at the door." She ripped the envelope open and began to read the letter as the others eagerly listened in. "Greetings, contestants. Hope all of you are making yourselves feel at home and finding new friends. We know you didn't get to spend that much time with Oliver after the introductions this afternoon. So we thought we should fix that. You have received a box with five fortune cookies. Take one and find out what your future holds." Laurel held the box up high. "Who wants to go first?"

Mckenna reached over and grabbed the box. "Let's see…" She picked a cookie and cracked it open. "Day after tomorrow, you'll be going on a romantic carriage ride with a Billionaire." She read the little note inside. "That sounds interesting," she added with a dazed smile.

"Pass it over," Helena commanded from her seat and Mckenna threw it her way.

Helena took a fortune cookie and took its note out. "A fun night at the carnival awaits you, four days from now," she read out loud and tossed the box at Isabel.

Isabel broke a fortune cookie into two and took out the little scroll with two fingers. She looked quite unimpressed by whatever fortune she had received. "Three days from now, you'll be going for coffee with a certain Billionaire," she read it for everyone to hear and handed it back to Helena.

Helena threw the box to Felicity. "Hey, Blondie! Catch!"

Felicity managed to grab it before it hit the ground. She took one of the two fortune cookies. The cookie she had chosen was hard to break for some reason. It took her three tries to finally crack the cookie open. "An exciting day awaits you tomorrow. You'll be mountain climbing with a famous billionaire," she read the message. "Mountain climbing? Just my luck!" she groaned. She was afraid of heights. Several times Oliver had invited her to go mountain climbing with him. She had always managed to come up with an excuse and decline Oliver's invitation. He called it a very calming experience and a good exercise. But all she saw it as was an invitation for death.

"And I thought I got the worst one," Helena laughed like a hyena.

Felicity made an annoyed face as she passed the box with the last cookie to Laurel.

Laurel rather unenthusiastically opened the fortune cookie and read the message. "You will have a romantic candle lit dinner with a Billionaire in five more days."

"Well, isn't that just perfect!" Isabel whined crushing the remainder of the fortune cookie in her hand into little bits.

"At least you won't be climbing mountains. And possibly die after plummeting down to earth and breaking all 206 bones in your body… Which is something I'm currently trying not to think about. And then there's always the possibility of dying by the lack of oxygen at those high altitudes. I don't think it's scientifically proven that you could die like that, but it should be," Felicity rambled as she stared at the crumbled little piece of paper in her palm.

It seemed she was going to be mountaineering tomorrow with Oliver Queen. But she would rather kiss Eddy Holmes again.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much KarenfrmMD for going through this chapter for me.

The dreaded day had come. Felicity was finally about to go mountaineering with her boss.

For the last twenty three minutes, she had been sitting on a bench in the mansion garden, waiting for the show's host to arrive. He was supposed to come and escort her to wherever her date with Oliver was to take place. But, John Diggle was late.

Truth be told, the so called date felt more like a chore than a date. If not for the mission she had undertaken as Oliver's personal spy, she would have faked some kind of an illness and refused to go.

In fact, last night, in the privacy of her bedroom, she had written a letter to Oliver. The letter entailed all that she had learnt about his ex-girlfriends so far. Her plan was to secretly hand the letter over to Oliver during their date. Hopefully, without getting caught by any cameras.

She had actually devised a plan A, B and a C. She just hoped plan A would suffice and she wouldn't have to resort to any of the others. Until then, the letter which was folded about dozen times stayed in the safety of her back pocket. Now and then, her hand roamed over the pocket just to make sure the letter was still there.

Felicity looked down at her clothes. She winced at the horrible attire given to her by the show's producers. It made the dreadful adventure ahead even more unappealing. They made her wear it just because it had one of their sponsors' names on the front. They were using her like a marketing tool and she simply hated that. If she had had it her way, she would have been wearing something bright and happy. Not the boring grey outfit she was sporting now. Once all this was over, Oliver was going to hear an earful from her. That was for sure.

Felicity was fed up of waiting. She got up from the bench and started to pace about. Whichever direction she would move, the two cameramen there would follow her. Whenever she would stop moving, they would, too. She found nothing more irritating than that. "Guys, you're not going to miss anything huge if you stay ten feet away from me for two minutes..."

One of the men snorted out a laugh, while the other one mumbled something in the lines of, "Sorry, I'm just doing my job."

The sound of a helicopter soaring over their heads brought their small conversation to a halt.

Felicity spotted a chopper with the 'Billionaire Bachelor' trademark, hovering above her.

It slowly descended onto the ground, somewhat far away from her. Her tightly bound pony tail swung like crazy till the helicopter propeller gradually came to a stop.

"Felicity! Let's go!" John Diggle jumped out of the chopper and motioned a hand signaling her to follow him.

She took few unsure steps forward. Helicopters definitely were not one of her favorite modes of travelling.

"Your date is waiting!" the host urged her.

Mumbling few angry words in a voice only she could hear, she quickened her steps. She truly hoped that they had parachutes stocked up somewhere in there, just in case.

Diggle helped her get onto the chopper. "Are you ready for an adventurous date with Oliver Queen?"

One of the two cameramen followed her in, while the other one stayed behind.

"Do I have a choice?" Felicity quipped.

"Not really." Diggle climbed in and sat in front of her, next to the cameraman. John Diggle was so gigantic, the seat seemed almost too small for him to fit in.

"So where are we going?" Felicity fastened her belt as the chopper began to take off.

"To a secret destination," Diggle replied.

"I hope you're not taking me to climb Mount Everest. I'm not really wearing anything much under this. And I have a feeling… that pink lace may not be a great heat retainer." It took her a moment to realize that she may have over shared. She flinched. "Tell me I didn't just say all that out loud."

A little smile formed on Diggle's face. "Let's just pretend you didn't."

She sighed. A reality show clearly was no place for a girl suffering from a severe case of verbal diarrhea like herself.

"So, are you excited about your date?" Diggle asked.

Felicity rolled her eyes at the host. "If, by excited, you mean, do I constantly envision myself falling head first into a pile of rocks and breaking my neck? Well, yeah... I'm just ecstatic."

"You really don't have to worry about anything, Felicity," Diggle assured her. "We have taken every precaution there is to make sure you're safe. And I hear Oliver is a very experienced climber. In fact, all the ideas for the dates were his. And I think this might be his favorite one. He was pretty insistent that we include it."

"Why am I not surprised to hear that?" she muttered to herself and stupidly peeked outside the window. They were now flying over trees and buildings. Her fear of heights quickly kicked in. She held onto her seat and took a deep breath.

Flying wasn't as bad as actually climbing a mountain or standing on a ledge of a building. Yet, still she was afraid. She simply hoped that no one would notice it, more in particular, the cameraman. She could just imagine them using this footage of her in the promo. All her friends at QC would no doubt laugh at her as they watched the 30 second clip over and over again.

Diggle glared at her with knotted brows. "Is this your first time on a helicopter?"

"No. Sometimes we take the company chopper, when we want to get somewhere fast," she said, trying not to look so frightened by the fact that they were hundreds of feet above ground.

Few minutes later, they landed at the 'secret destination', as Diggle kept referring to it throughout the ride.

The cameraman jumped off first and then Diggle followed suit. Diggle held his hand out for her and with his help, she hopped down from the chopper. She felt a little light headed and needed a couple of seconds to recover.

In the meantime, Diggle had snuck back into the chopper. "Goodbye, Felicity!" He waved his hand as he closed the door.

"Hey! Where are you going?" she cried. The helicopter took off despite of her protests, blowing sand all over her face. She whined as she took her glasses off and wiped the dust off with her hand.

She put them back on and looked around at the wide empty land surrounded by trees and mountains.

"If I had known all I had to do to get you to do this, was to sign on to do a TV show, I would have done this sooner." She heard Oliver's cocky voice from behind.

Felicity spun around, and found Oliver Queen all dressed up and ready to go climbing. The rock climbing rack he was wearing had all sorts of hooks and gear hanging from it. He looked hot, as always.

He handed her a pink helmet. It had a cute little camera on top, just like the one on his helmet.

"If I had known dating a billionaire involved climbing mountains, I would have never joined this show," she retorted as she put the helmet on.

"You're going to enjoy it. Trust me." He extended his hand towards her.

She thought twice before her tentative hand reached out and grasped his hand. "Let's hope it's not like that time you told me to trust you and try that left over spaghetti in your fridge." She could almost feel that vile taste in her mouth even now. "It tasted like sock! Not that I have tasted any socks in my life… but there's this old picture of me… I was about two, I think… and I look like I am trying to bite my toe off." She found herself going off course again and she pursed her lips together to stop herself.

"How many times do I have to say sorry for that spaghetti incident?" he complained, but with a little smile playing on his lips.

"An infinite number of times, Mr. Queen," she replied smilingly and his grin grew wider. She simply loved when he smiled so openly like that.

They walked for few minutes before stopping in front of a considerably huge rock mountain. There were few crew members running around there. Annoyed as she was by the cameras that constantly hovered around her, it was the presence of the paramedics that put her at most unease.

Couple of members from the crew helped her with her harness and other climbing gear. Someone, who introduced himself as an expert, came and gave her some safety pointers.

"Are you ready?" Oliver asked.

"No!" She gazed up at the mountain peak. "I was thinking we were going to climb something not so steep and mountain-y. I didn't think it would be a large rock. Isn't this too high? I mean, can't we climb the one over there. It looks smaller." She pointed at the smaller cliff to their right.

He connected the hook like things on his and her harnesses on to two different codes. "Smaller? Yes. Easy to climb? No… Besides, there's something here that I want you to see." He stepped closer to her and almost whispered into her ear.

"Can't you show it to me now, without making me go all the way up there?" she whined, trying not to think too much about their proximity.

He didn't reply. He just led her closer to the cliff. "Put your foot there." He pointed at a little crack on the rock.

"Here goes nothing." She first steadied her glasses and then did as she was told.

Little by little, she crawled up and half an hour or so later, her legs started to go numb. She hugged the rock, determined not to move any further. "Oliver, I have to tell you something…" Her voice came out more shaken than she had anticipated.

Oliver was standing couple of feet to the right of her. He coolly connected another hook to the rope and faced her. "What?"

"I'm afraid of heights," she confessed.

"I know…" he simply admitted and went about fastening something on his harness.

"What?" she almost lost her grip on the rock.

"Why do you think, I kept on asking you to come climbing with me," he winked.

"You knew all along and you still wanted me to do this with you? Why would you do that?" If she wasn't so afraid of letting go of the rock, she would have punched him.

Oliver put his foot on a little step like hole created on the rock, and pushed himself up. "The best way to conquer your fears is to face them."

She looked up at him, with her cheek still resting against the cold rock. "I disagree. The best way is to stay as far away as possible from them."

He offered her his hand so that she could climb up to where he was. "Do you really want to live your whole life in fear?"

She rejected his hand. "Yeah… if it means I'm not going to fall, break my neck and die."

"Just do this, just this one time. And when you're finally up there, you will realize what your fear has stopped you from experiencing," he claimed as his eyes egged her to take his hand.

She glared at her stupid friend and sometimes boss. "I would love to explain how wrong your philosophy is, Oliver, but not while I'm standing on my tiptoes on a rock…million feet above ground." Felicity held on even more tightly to the rock.

"Felicity, we haven't even climbed five feet. You can literally jump down from here." He grinned like the jerk that he was.

Felicity looked down with one eye closed. It wasn't a lie. They hadn't really climbed that far. She could even see the crew and the cameraman standing below. They were quietly laughing at her.

"Have I told you how much I hate you, lately?" She finally caught his hand and tried to climb up, but she nearly lost her footing and slipped in the process.

Oliver was quick to put a hand around her waist and steady her. "Not in a few days, Ms. Smoak," he told her in a soft voice.

A wave of electricity ran down her spine at his voice. Having his strong arm around her made her heart race faster than it did at the thought of falling from top of a mountain. She learned that their closeness both comforted and frightened her.

"You alright?" His hand tightened on her waist as his eyes searched for hers.

She closed her eyes and swallowed thickly. "Hmm… mmm..." She nodded as she reminded herself that he was her boss, her friend and nothing more. And probably, could never be anything more.

"I won't let anything happen to you… I promise," he uttered, and his breath caressed her cheek like a feather.

Her eyes then fluttered opened at his soothing voice. Only to find his deep blue eyes staring at her.

"Trust me?" he pleaded.

At that moment, if he had said that the world was flat, she would have believed him. If he had said she could fly, she would have believed him. "Yes," she answered with great certainty.

His stare suddenly changed at her answer. His eyes turned darker and his jaws tightened as though he was trying to restrain himself from saying something.

Her heart skipped a beat as her head got filled with very silly thoughts. "Let's just do it," she blurted. She had wanted to say something else, but the words had come out sounding like she was trying to insinuate something else.

His eyebrows quirked up at her words.

"I meant let's do the mountain climbing thing before I start to have second thoughts about it," she clarified.

He smiled amusedly as he helped her climb. "Just don't look down."

More than a couple of hours may have gone by, before they finally reached the top. Oliver got there first and drew her up from one hand as though she was a mere feather.

She had been so exhausted that she just collapsed onto him. He toppled backwards and she landed on top of him. Her face crashed into his chest. "Sorry… I'm just… tired…" She hurriedly pushed herself off of him and managed to stand straight on her jelly like legs.

"But, don't you feel great?" He stood up and grabbed her by her elbow.

It boggled Felicity to hear him still talk so enthusiastically, even after all that climbing and swinging around in ropes they had done. "I feel like I've just run a marathon…" She stopped to gasp for air. "Twice!" she eventually added.

He turned her around from her shoulders.

"What are you do-" She was rendered speechless by the scenery before her. And that wasn't something which happened so often. At that moment, she was able to forget all her fears and just take in the beautiful view in front of her. The sun was about to set behind the mountains and the sky appeared as though it was painted by someone. The patches of green trees and silvery streams were simply breathtaking.

"This is what I wanted to show you." His hands slid down her shoulders and hovered around her waist for a while. "What do you think?"

She could hardly think. For a moment, she thought she may black out from a sensory overload. The sunset, his touch, his voice and the way he stood behind her was making her want things that she shouldn't want. She breathed in and calmed herself down. "Amazing!" she finally answered him.

He took her by the hand and drew her to the side. "I think it's time for some champagne. What do you say?" He gestured at a little picnic blanket laid on the ground.

A bottle of champagne and two little champagne flutes were set on the middle of the blanket.

He usually did the smoldering look, the flowers and the diamond necklaces, to woo women. But never had she known him to do something like this. Something which seemed so personal and endearing. At least not in the last two years. It actually felt too good to be true. And it was. It only took few seconds for Felicity to notice the cameramen and crew hiding behind bushes and rocks. It was all for the show. It was all a well-made production.

The whole charade he had put on for her, reminded her why she was there. She secretly pulled out the letter she had written from her back pocket and kept it hidden in her fist. Plan A and B did not seem viable at that moment. Which only meant that she would have to go with plan C.

"Shall we…" He led her towards the little picnic arrangement.

"That seems to be what's next on our agenda," she answered spitefully as she scanned the area. She tried to analyze what the best angle would be to give the letter undetected by the cameras and sat down putting her legs to the side.

He sat beside her, wearing a frown. "Hmm?"

"Nothing… just bring on the champagne." She took the two champagne flutes by their stems.

Oliver took the champagne bottle and pulled the cork out. It came off with a pop and the champagne bubbled out. She moved the flutes closer and he poured the champagne into them.

"To conquering fears!" He took a flute and raised it high.

"And for not falling off cliffs!" She raised her glass higher.

After clicking the glasses together, Oliver sipped the champagne, his eyes never leaving her.

Hoping the champagne would give her some courage to withstand his unwavering stare, she lifted the glass and gulped the drink in one go. It worked. But only for a fleeting second.

"So, would you try this again?" He put his glass up on the blanket.

"Maybe…" She grabbed the champagne bottle and refilled her glass.

"Good." He took a little sip from his glass again.

"So, how did you find out I was afraid of heights?" She finished her second glass and the champagne began to slowly bubble through her system.

"I didn't notice it until probably couple of months after you joined QC. I think it was after we became… this…" He waved his hand, alluding to the foot or so space left between them. "I don't think you even know you're doing it. But… whenever we go somewhere high… like a bridge…a tall building or whenever we go on the QC chopper, you always grab my arm…"

"No… I don't!" Did she? But whether she did or not, there went her dignity. Now everyone was going to think that she was that kind of an EA. The kind that manipulated situations just so that she could grab her boss's arm. That called for another glass.

"You do! That's why I kept asking you to do this…" he confessed.

She scowled at him. "Because you didn't want me grabbing you?" She couldn't even tell if she was already too tipsy or she was just being her usual 'foot in the mouth' self. Either way, she knew she was about to stray off topic again. "Grabbing you by the arm, I mean. Otherwise it would be harassment. Grabbing the arm could be harassment, too, I guess… grabbing anything without consent is, I think…" She mentally counted down to three and stopped talking.

"Felicity, I just wanted you to get over your fears. You can grab me any time you want... my arm, I mean," he grinned cheekily.

She turned her eyes up at him. "So, what if I had picked a different fortune cookie?" She was feeling daring enough to drink one more glass of champagne. She had climbed a mountain, gosh darn it. She deserved it. She talked herself into drinking one more.

"It wouldn't have been as fun, and…" He stopped talking and frowned at her glass. "Felicity, don't you think you should slow down a little bit?"

"Hey, I could have died anytime within the last few hours. So, I think I should be allowed to drink more than a couple of glasses…" she slurred. The champagne seemed to be slowly working its way into her system already.

Sebastian appeared out of nowhere. "Hey, guys… would you guys mind crossing your arms and drinking? It would look nice with the sunset." He disappeared off to wherever he came from.

Felicity shrugged. Cross hand drinking seemed a fairly harmless thing to do. And it may probably give her a chance to set plan C in to motion. So, without a second thought, she put her arm forward. Oliver moved closer to her and crossed his arm with hers. They started to drink, with their eyes locked on each other.

Neither was in a hurry to finish their drink. But, sadly it did finish. They both lowered the champagne flutes, but their gaze stayed the same. The longer they stared, the more nervous Felicity became. However, she didn't have the willpower to look away either. Unconsciously, her other hand began to open and she was suddenly reminded of plan C. She leaned closer towards him, to execute it. It was now or never.

At first, Oliver seemed slightly surprised by her advances. However, since he didn't make any attempt to move back, she leaned in further. The empty champagne flutes slipped from both their hands. Praying for everything to go right, she closed her eyes and planted a kiss on his lips. Thankfully, Oliver didn't throw her off of him as she kept imagining him to.

His lips were warm and inviting. She welcomed the wonderful tingling sensation that ran through her body as she lightly nipped on his lips.

Before she forgot why she was doing what she was doing, she blindly searched for his pocket and slid the letter in as quickly as possible.

Felicity's job was done. But, she was unwilling to tear her lips away from him. With some resolute, she placed her hand on his chest and began to pull away. Just then, he caught her by her arm and kept her still. His tongue began to seek entrance and she couldn't stop herself from parting her lips.

Was he simply playing the part of the handsome billionaire trying to woo his EA on a TV show, or was it real? Felicity couldn't understand and she couldn't care. She blamed it on the champagne and decided to give in. She let her hormones and senses take control of her.

She moaned as his movements became more demanding and urgent. He cupped her face and each little brush of his lips, he reeled her further into him. She grabbed a hold of his t-shirt, as though she was afraid he would stop.

The champagne, the kissing, the way one of his hand rested on her waist, it all began to feel like Déjà vu. She felt as though this wasn't the first time they had let themselves get carried away.

Crazy visions began to flood her mind just as they had last night. She saw herself smiling and walking backwards to his room. And he was following her, his eyes set on her like a hawk. Her steps were not steady, and she stumbled onto the bed behind. He ended up on top of her. The images were clearer than last time, but she didn't want to put too much meaning into it. It could just be the champagne messing with her brain.

Nevertheless, Felicity reluctantly broke the kiss. It had to be done. Or else, she knew, at the end of the day, she would be the one to get hurt. Not the billionaire, with four other romantic dates to follow after this.

"Felicity," her name escaped from his lips as though it meant something more.

She opened her eyes and she realized a helicopter was hovering above them. She deliberately turned her complete attention to it, and not to his hand that was clutching her wrist.

The chopper landed on the rock and John Diggle once more jumped out of it. "It's time to go home, Cinderella!"

What would a reality show be without a well-timed interruption? She smiled a little at the thought.

When she tried to walk up to Diggle, Oliver tugged her back from her wrist and stopped her. "Felicity?"

She turned back and saw him gazing at her. His eyes seemed as though they were asking her to stay. But her brain told her not to be fooled. "I have to go." She glared at their connection and he let go.

She looked up at him and he put on a faint smile.

"Thanks for the… champagne," she mouthed softly before running back and getting onto the chopper.

She could still see him stare at her even as the helicopter began to take off.

She watched him, till his figure turned to a little spec in the background. Her fears were completely forgotten and replaced by something else.

Her mind was preoccupied by the kiss the whole ride through to the mansion. Her cheeks still blushed even at the memory and she hoped the camera wouldn't be able capture it.

The moment Felicity stepped inside the manor, Helena and Isabel led an interrogation session. Felicity replied with short answers and escaped to her room before they grilled her for more details.

She ran straight to her bathroom and closed the door. She stood with her back leaning against the door. She couldn't believe they actually kissed and she had been the one to, in fact, initiate it. Albeit, she had kissed him to pass on some information. But she didn't really think she would have enough courage to actually go through with her plan. The champagne certainly had helped.

Her hand came up and touched her lips. She could still feel his lips on hers. She felt a smile creep in and she shook her head.

She had to be smarter than that. She should be smart enough to know just as she had kissed him with an alternate motive, he may have, too. Everything was an act. She shouldn't day dream about a man, who still hadn't gotten over at least one of his ex-girlfriends.

She needed to never forget why she was actually there. And nothing reminded her of her obligations than the message written across her bathroom mirror. Her eyes went wide in shock, as she read the large lettering written possibly with a deep red lipstick. " _I know why you're here, Blondie!"_  the message said.

The only person to ever call her 'Blondie' was Helena. So, this surely had to be one of her antics. "Ha ha ha! Very funny, Helena!" Felicity laughed dryly as she wiped it off with a tissue. However, she just couldn't shake off the strange feeling that something was off.


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver looked out the limo and realized that he was not that far away from the 'Billionaire Bachelor' mansion.

He took out the crumpled letter Felicity had snuck into his pocket five days ago. He started to read it once again, probably for the hundredth time. " _Oliver,_   _I hope I was able to give this letter to you without getting caught. And I hope it wasn't by executing 'Plan C'. Just in case it was, I'm extremely sorry for kissing you."_ Oliver groaned as he finished reading the first paragraph. He didn't even want to think about why he felt so disappointed every time he read the last line.

He may not have been expecting a kiss of any kind that day. But he wasn't expecting Felicity to have kissed him just to pass on the letter he was now holding in his hand.

" _I hope it wasn't that bad. I mean, if I did go through with Plan C. Not that I think I'm a bad kisser. I haven't gotten any complaints. At least not yet."_ The kiss wasn't bad at all. If it was even remotely bad, he wouldn't have responded to her kiss like he had. In fact, he hadn't yet been able to get the kiss out of his mind. He believed it had to be because 'Oliver Queen' was not used to being exploited by a girl. Normally it was he who used women. Not the other way around.

He read the next couple of lines. " _I don't know if and when you'll get to see what's going on in this mansion. So I thought I should let you in on what I've found out about your ex-girlfriends before the elimination."_

He truly appreciated Felicity's efforts. However, he just wished she hadn't delivered the letter the way she had.

Then again, it was just a kiss. So, why Felicity had done what she had done, shouldn't really matter to him. Yet, surprisingly it did.

" _I didn't find much about Mckenna or Isabel. Well, maybe, except for the fact that Isabel is a diabolical woman, who apparently knows why everyone is on the show. But, I think she's just bluffing."_ Oliver could just imagine Felicity disapprovingly rolling her eyes as she wrote of the former ballerina.

" _Although, she did spill some secrets on your gorgeous Laurel_.  _According to Miss Rochev, Laurel has gotten disbarred over some kind of a drug problem. And again, according to Miss Rochev, Laurel is here because marrying the billionaire Oliver Queen, could help her pay her debts. But, Laurel said she's not here for the money."_ After receiving Felicity's letter, Oliver used some of his contacts to find out whether there was any truth to any of what Felicity had written. He never would have taken Laurel to have resorted to drugs for any reason. But he was shocked when he found out that it was indeed true. Laurel had been disbarred and was in heavy debt.

Nevertheless, he was aware that none of it meant that Laurel's intention for being on the show was purely for his money.

He jumped to the next paragraph. " _Then, onto Helena Bertinelli. I don't understand why you ever dated someone like her. Except for the obvious 'Bad girls in tight black clothes are hot' reasons."_

Honestly, there was no other reason for dating Helena. She was troubled and looked hot in her black leather pants. Those days, it was all that it took to impress him.

" _Two of her ex-boyfriends have restraining orders against her and one of them has mysteriously disappeared. If I were you, I would stay the hell away from her. But, you can do whatever you want. It is your life."_ Oliver could almost hear Felicity's voice and see her face as he read the letter. Bizarrely, it just made him miss her more.

" _Hope this letter was somehow useful to you. Until next time then. 3 Felicity._ " Oliver had seen her draw that heart in front of her name many times before. He knew she had done it out of habit. Yet, he stared at the little heart moment longer, as though it held a deeper meaning.

" _P.S: I may have led everyone to believe that something happened between us that night."_  He knew exactly what night she was referring to. And just as her, he didn't really have a clue as to what had happened that night. Yet, in a strange way, he was sure that nothing had happened. Because, how could he forget if anything had happened between Felicity and him? How could he have ever let himself forget something like that?

The limo came to a halt and Oliver quickly shoved the letter back inside his pocket.

"Mr. Queen, we are here." The driver opened the door for him.

Just as Oliver stepped out, a woman called out to him. "Mr. Queen, come this way!"

Oliver turned to the voice and saw middle aged woman wearing a 'Billionaire Bachelor' t-shirt waving at him. He followed her inside and she took her to a study room.

There he found Diggle, seated in front of the fireplace. "Oliver, before we start the elimination ceremony, I want you to see something." He gestured at the chair beside him and asked Oliver to sit.

The room became slightly darker. A large TV screen appeared on the bare wall above the fireplace. Just as Oliver sat down, some kind of a video started to play on the screen. " _Hi, Oliver_!  _I hope you enjoyed our date as much as I did_." Isabel popped up on the TV.

Oliver smirked back at the woman on the screen as he reminisced on their date. The conversation that took place between the two of them that day may have seemed rather ordinary, but what went on under the table clearly was anything but.

Isabel was secretly trying to do things with her foot that could not ever be shown on a PG rated TV show. Fortunately for her, none of the cameramen noticed where her foot was travelling. The way the tables and chairs were designed and placed, helped her cause immensely.

Isabel truly had not changed. She was still the same Isabel he used to fool around with. However, Oliver Queen had changed. While a much younger Oliver Queen would have egged her on to continue with her ministrations, the new and improved Oliver Queen wasn't enjoying the proceedings as much. Something didn't feel quite right. He felt as if he was betraying someone.

Oliver tried as subtly as he could to let Isabel know he wasn't really into playing footsie with her. It took him more than a few glares to convince her to stop.

" _I'm hoping that you will decide to keep me around because…"_ Isabel paused and winked. " _I think you know why."_  The background music used on the video made her words sound more erotic than they actually were.

The screen then faded to black and Mckenna's smiling face came on. " _Hello, Oliver._ " She waved at the camera. Clips of their date started to play and her voice ran over the video. " _I had a great time. I've never gone on a carriage ride before. And I really loved it."_

The sentiment wasn't the same from Oliver's side though. While nothing had gone wrong on their date, nothing had gone so right either. He felt no spark between the two of them. Whatever that had attracted him to her, seemed to have disappeared.

" _So I hope I get another chance to go on a date with you, Oliver_." Mckenna crossed her fingers and closed her eyes. " _Bye_!" She blew a kiss at the camera. There was a dazed smile playing on her lips as her image faded away.

Helena appeared next. " _Hey, Ollie…"_  She laughed. She knew he hated when she called him 'Ollie'. " _Although, I would've rather gone with you somewhere more romantic, I think we both had fun at the carnival_."

It may have been fun for her, but for him it was torture. She was fiercely competitive. Whatever game or ride they would partake in, she would make some kind of a competition out of it. It was fun the first few times. But more she lost, more aggressive she became. She wasn't happy the few times he let her win either.

What Felicity had said about Helena supposedly having something to do with the disappearance of her ex-boyfriend, didn't help matters any. He felt more like a detective on a stakeout trying to catch a murderer than a billionaire on a date with his hot ex-girlfriend.

" _I'm not going to ask you to not to eliminate me because I know you won't_." Helena twirled a lock of her dark hair between her fingers. Her image blurred into the background as Oliver's favorite EA emerged on the screen.

Instantly, Oliver felt more at ease. He couldn't help but smile at the way Felicity fixed the tiny microphone set on the collar of her blouse.

" _Is it on?"_  she asked someone on her right. " _Oh! Hi, Oliver_ ," she added quickly once she realized they were already filming. " _I don't really know what I'm supposed to say…. I think I'm supposed to say that I enjoyed our date. I mean I really did have fun… when I wasn't so worried about falling off the cliff and dying_!" Her blue eyes got bigger as her hands elaborated how she could have fallen off the rock and died.

He would have never let that or anything of the sort happen to her. He was sure of it.

" _Anyway,_   _thanks for trying to help me get over my fears."_ Highlights of their date started to play. Including their not so little smooch.

Oliver felt himself leaning forward on his chair, as he tried to get a closer look. Then suddenly, it cut back to Felicity's interview. " _But anyway, in case I haven't gotten over it... I mean my fears, I hope you would still let me grab you- your arm… when we go on our next date… if you want to, that is …_ " she grumbled, seemingly disappointed at what she had babbled. " _Can I do another take?"_  He heard her ask as her face slowly disappeared from the screen.

" _Hi, Ollie_ ," Laurel came into view. " _I think we had a great time last night. We may not be the same people that we were few years ago, but I think we still have a special connection."_

That was what Oliver had thought too before going on the date. He had expected some kind of magic to transpire between the two of them. But it all felt little too awkward.

Desperately hoping to rekindle something, he had even given a little peck on her lips at the end of the night. Other than reawakening the memories of all those times they had fought about him cheating on her with her sister, their kiss literally did nothing to him. He felt extremely underwhelmed.

"So, Oliver, have you made your decision?" Diggle asked just as Laurel's video ended.

"I think so." Oliver nodded when, in fact, he hadn't got a single clue as to who he should be sending home. Although, according to the long phone conversation he had had with Sebastian last night, it seemed the producer was very keen on getting rid of Mckenna. During their conversation, Oliver caught Sebastian often refer to Mckenna as bland and boring.

"Alright then, shall we go and meet the ladies and let them know their fates?" Diggle stood up and led Oliver through the hallways to another much larger room.

While they stood facing the entrance, Oliver noticed that the little stand beside him this time around had only four roses.

The contestants entered the room one after the other and stood few feet in front of Oliver in a straight line. Helena and Isabel stood confidently at one end, while Felicity stood in the middle of the pack nervously playing with her hands. Laurel who was standing at the other end looked up at him and smiled. Mckenna on the other hand simply stared at him with lot of determination.

"Oliver, who do you want to call first?" Diggle's resounding voice reminded Oliver that he hadn't yet made a decision.

Oliver looked up at the women. His eyes wondered towards Felicity. The decision should be simple. Since she was his spy, he should let her stay on the show.

But still, he was apprehensive to make a decision. On one hand, he knew if he were to eliminate her, he would have his EA back. She would then be back at QC with him, where she belonged. She would be sitting on her desk across from him, on the other side of the glass wall.

On the other hand, he desperately needed to keep her on the show. But, he wasn't sure if it was merely because she had been a very useful spy. "Felicity," he finally called her.

Felicity slowly stepped towards him. "Hi," she greeted. She looked as though she had so many things to ask him. Maybe about his thoughts on Plan C.

He handed a rose to her. "Felicity, I want to go out on another date with you," he said simply, without thinking.

Her face turned almost to the colour of the red rose in her hand. "I'd like that, too…"

"Great!" He leaned over to kiss her cheek, but all he could see were her slightly parted lips. He wanted to see whether her lips were as soft as he remembered. He wanted to know whether she would let out those soft moans if he were to kiss her again.

It took a valiant effort on his part to not to take her lips with his own again and to just lay a little kiss on her cheek.

"Eh, yeah great," she mumbled before returning to her previous spot with the other girls.

Oliver glanced over at the remaining four women. "Laurel," he called. They may not have had the best of dates, but he was willing to give it another go. He had been waiting for another chance with her for so long, it would be really stupid to let go of her now.

"I want to see where this whole thing takes us." He gave her a rose.

Laurel smiled brightly. "I'm really happy to hear that." She slowly turned around and walked back to the line.

Two more roses were left and three girls were looking at him eagerly. He called Isabel and gave her one of the two roses.

After much deliberation, Oliver decided to give the last rose to Mckenna. Their date may have been bordering on being lousy, but he felt he would rather date her than someone like Helena.

"I'm sorry, Helena," he told her as he reached forward and tried to console her.

Helena pushed him back. "This can't be over… No.. No…" She slurred. "No! This is not over, Oliver Queen!" She marched a few steps forward and grabbed an innocent vase lying close by. "You will all be sorry!" She threw the vase at the other contestants.

"Felicity!" Before Oliver could reach his EA, she had already gotten out of the way.

The little vase hit the wall behind them and shattered into pieces. One of the pieces ricocheted off the wall and struck Laurel on her forehead. "Laurel, are you alright?" Oliver ran to her aid and checked to see if she was hurt in anyway.

"I'm alright." She touched the little bump emerging on her forehead.

"You'll all be sorry!" Helena pointed her finger at everyone in the room.

Couple of well-built crew members showed up and quickly seized Helena. She tried to wriggle out, but the men were too strong for her to fight off. "You're an idiot, Oliver Queen!" She shouted as the two men escorted her out of the building.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to KarenfrmMD for betaing the chapter.
> 
> I'll be updating one more chapter in a little while.

Rain was pouring down heavily outside. Now and again, lightning would strike and form new shadows on the pale kitchen walls.

Felicity studied the faces of everyone sitting around the table with her. The harsh spotlight flashing upon their faces, created shadows and contours that made them all appear rather menacing and dangerous. She felt as if they were gathered to play a game of Russian roulette. Although, considering the kind of secrets that may surface in a short while, she felt that she may actually be better off playing Russian roulette.

Her eyes slowly drifted to the large bottle of vodka and the five glasses arranged at the middle of the table. "Are we really going to play this game?" She knew that her nerves had to be already showing on her face.

"The note said we have to, so I guess we have to," Laurel reminded Felicity of the little note they had received while ago from the production team.

" _Play till midnight. Play till the bottle is over. Play Never Have I Ever,"_ the message had said. Felicity pouted recalling the words.

Laurel smiled with her as though she had found her expression quite endearing.

Things have been looking up, for the past three days for Felicity. She was now more used to the cameras and had found two new friends, in the form of Laurel and Mckenna. She wouldn't go as far as to calling them her new BFFs. However, considering their current situation, they have become somewhat closer than they were the first week.

Even Isabel had become less catty after Helena's dramatic departure. And that was something Felicity hadn't ever expected to happen.

"Afraid that some of your secrets will come out?" Oliver Queen, who was seated directly in front of Felicity, teased her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't have any secrets!"

Oliver's steady gaze made her tighten the robe she had worn over her PJs. It wasn't the first time her boss had seen her in her PJs. But then, she hadn't kissed him on top of a mountain.

Whoever had thought it was a good idea to tell Oliver Queen to show up at the mansion, at night, unannounced, must have hated her. Whoever had thought it was a great idea to tell them to play 'Never Have I Ever', must have hated her more. For one, her alcohol tolerance level wasn't the best. And two, Felicity knew that this game could turn so ugly so quickly.

"Everyone has secrets." Isabel smiled smugly.

The brunette wasn't wrong. Felicity too, had secrets. Just like everyone else seated around the table. Some of her secrets were more embarrassing than others. Some were more innocent than others. And some secrets, like the fact that she was on a reality TV show purely as Oliver's spy, could get her into a whole lot of trouble. In fact, at times Felicity felt that she just maybe the biggest faker out of the whole bunch.

"Ok, guys, let's get this over with. I'll go first." Mckenna filled the little glasses with vodka. "Never have I ever made out with a girl." She scanned the faces around her to see who would reach for their drink.

Oliver was the first to finish his glass. Then no one seemed too shocked to see Isabel take her shot. Certainly, Felicity, who had already heard many tales of Isabel's exploits from Oliver, wasn't the least surprised.

However, it was when Felicity Meghan Smoak herself reached for her glass that everyone looked stunned. "What?" She glared back at the quizzical faces staring at her. "Everyone experiments in college, right?" The alcohol burnt her taste buds as she poured it down her throat.

Oliver gave her a little nod. "Right…" He seemed strangely impressed by her answer and he proceeded to just gaze at her.

Felicity shifted her focus solely on to the glass in her hands, just so she could evade his stare.

But, she could still hear Oliver spin his empty glass on the table. "And, Laurel, that reminds me… freshman year? Eh… what was her name? Amy Parker?"

Felicity looked up at Laurel out of curiosity. Just in time to catch Laurel and Oliver sharing a smile. It was clear that those two had a history, which no one else sitting there probably could ever compete with.

Laurel bit her lips sheepishly as she corrected him. "Amy Connell." She finished her vodka and put the little glass back on the table. "I was hoping you wouldn't remember."

Oliver winked at Laurel. "How can I forget? I was the one who dared you to do it."

Felicity cleared her throat. "My turn!" She carefully leaned over the table and refilled the empty glasses. "Never have I ever used a gun," she declared.

It seemed she was sitting among a group of gun lovers. Except for herself, everyone else took a shot.

Felicity could remember Oliver saying, that his father used to teach him how to shoot a gun. And Mckenna was a cop. So there were no new revelations there. But what she was keen to know was how and why, Isabel and Laurel both had come to use guns.

"It's one of the things I do to let off steam. You could say it's one of my hobbies," Isabel claimed.

"Hey, my father is a cop," Laurel shrugged.

"I guess it's my turn now." Isabel sat back and took her time to come up with something. Her eyes lit up suddenly, as though she had had some sort of an epiphany. "Never have I ever slept with any of my bosses. Past or present." The little sneer she passed as she looked Felicity's way, was very telling of her motives. Who her target was very clear.

According to the story Felicity had spun few days ago, she had gotten drunk and slept with her boss. So she really ought to drink another glass. But she didn't even dare to look at her glass, let alone at her boss sitting in front of her.

Few seconds later, Felicity finally let out a deep breath. She knew she had to drink. Everyone was expecting her to.

Just when, Felicity's indecisive fingers were about to crawl towards her glass, Mckenna spoke. "Really? You haven't ever slept with your boss?" She eyed Isabel in disbelief.

Isabel rolled her eyes at Mckenna. "Regardless of what all of you may think of me, I do have standards. For example, a sixty five year old man with a questionable rash, do not meet them."

Felicity clasped her glass with both her hands. "I guess I'm… I'll have to…" She didn't want to explain herself anymore and get herself tangled in more trouble than she was already in. So she just emptied the glass in one big gulp.

"Never have I ever tried to hack into my science teacher's computer," Oliver said before Felicity even had the time to set her glass down.

Felicity's eyes shot up at him. Was he trying to avenge her for some reason? Had he made her his target, too? His stare and smile certainly seemed to suggest that. Or, was it some kind of a penance for kissing him that day?

She glared at him, wishing she had the power to send laser beams with her eyes. She should have never told that story to Oliver. "Before the whole country thinks I'm some kind of a criminal, let's just emphasize on the word 'tried'. I didn't really hack into her computer, I just tried to. I realized it was wrong before I went through with it. And, in my defense, I did have some really good reasons for trying to do that." At least, at the time, she had thought her reasons were well justified.

Those days, Felicity had been convinced that her science teacher was either working for the CIA or was some kind of a spy. But, as it had turned out, she was merely having an online affair with a married man.

That was a stupid thing she had 'tried' to do when she was younger and Oliver should have kept that information to himself.

"So, you're some kind of a hacker?" The new bit of information seemed to have stirred the cop in Mckenna.

"Yeah…No… I've always been good with computers. Even when I was little. I actually fixed my first computer when I was six." Felicity felt like a criminal put on trial and she began to do what she did best. She babbled, "I haven't really hacked anything yet. Not that I'm planning on hacking anything in the future. I mean, I wouldn't exactly call myself a hacker. Probably… just someone who's a bit more tech savvy than your average Executive Assistant." She quickly finished the damn vodka and looked up at Oliver. He had riled her up now and she was going to make him pay. "My turn again! Never have I ever gotten drunk and gotten a tattoo."

As expected, Oliver drank a glass of vodka. He, in some sense, seemed quite entertained by how Felicity had chosen to attack him. And it drove her even madder.

Laurel placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. "You got drunk and got a tattoo? Sounds like a very interesting story." Her eyes blinked rapidly as she stared at her ex-boyfriend sitting next to her.

"That wouldn't have happened, if a certain EA hadn't bailed out on me last minute and let me go off to Japan all by myself." Just like always, he blamed it on her.

Felicity pointed her finger at him. "My goldfish was sick!" Her goldfish was fine. It was just what she had blurted out as an excuse that day.

They were supposed to go on a two day business trip to Japan. It was planned weeks ago. She had packed her clothes, maps, the little pocket dictionary and whatnot. She was raring to go. However, the problem was, the whole ' _How did we end up in bed together naked?_ ' incident had happened just a couple of days before the trip. She just couldn't even imagine being alone with him in a foreign country for two days. It was just a business trip, no doubt. But, with Oliver Queen, there were never any 'just' business trips. There was always some wine and dinner in a fancy restaurant involved. She wasn't sure she would have been able to handle it all. Especially with the memory of waking up in his arms still so fresh in her mind. So, her unfortunate goldfish 'Sushi' became her fall guy.

"Your goldfish was sick? What kind of an excuse was that?" Isabel looked at her as though she was repulsed. "Don't tell me it's some kind of a euphemism for..."

"It's not! Sushi wasn't being himself." Poor Sushi, if only he knew.

"Sushi wasn't being himself?" Mckenna giggled.

"So, Ollie, what does the tattoo say? I mean what is it?" Laurel's voice cut over Mckenna's laughter.

"It's a Kanji." Oliver's hand unconsciously ran up towards his shoulder, where the Japanese word was tattooed. "A bellhop at the hotel I was staying in said, it meant 'happy'."

"Oh?" Laurel looked at Oliver as though he had given her some kind of a riddle to solve.

"I guess it could have been worse. You could have gotten some other, not so kid friendly word, tattooed on your forehead." Felicity laughed as she recalled all the voice messages she had found on her phone that night. Some of them were butt-dialed. But, most of them were by a very drunk Oliver talking about random things he had thought was interesting.

However, on the very last of the messages, he sounded rather teed off. He was angry that she wasn't picking up her phone. He had even threatened to fire her if she didn't pick up. She would have, if only she hadn't left the phone on her table at QC that very night.

Oliver made a low grumbling noise. Maybe, he too was remembering the voice messages. In fact, she had replayed them to him and teased him over it so many times, it just had to be running on his mind.

"Ok, my turn again! Never have I ever… fantasized about my boss." Oliver was even more geared up about taunting her than he was a second ago.

Felicity stuttered. "Didn't … didn't Isabel already say something very similar? And doesn't it sound a bit unfair? I mean you've never had a boss." Theoretically, now that she had already admitted to sleeping with him, it should be easier to admit to this silly little thing. But, she just couldn't. She didn't want to even touch that vodka and admit to what he wanted her to admit. How could a girl not fantasize about a boss the likes of Oliver Queen? And she knew he already knew that.

"That doesn't make the statement any less true," Oliver protested, with a monkey grin plastered on his face.

Felicity would try anything to get out of this one. She even turned to her new friend Laurel, the disbarred lawyer sitting beside her for a counter argument.

Laurel beamed as if she knew some secret that Felicity did not. "I'd like to help you, Felicity, but Ollie's right."

While they were discussing about the semantics of Oliver's statement, Isabel was secretly sipping on her vodka.

"I thought you said you have standards and you've never slept with any past or present bosses?" Mckenna glared at Isabel.

"I said I've never slept with any of them. That doesn't mean I've never thought about it." Isabel casually finished her drink.

Oliver looked at Felicity. "Ehm… So, Felicity?"

With her glare fixed on her annoying boss, Felicity snatched the bottle and poured the liquor on to her glass. She finished the drink in a matter of seconds and kept the glass back. "Never have I ever… done a background check on my EA's date!"

Oliver's face quickly shrank. "He was a reporter, Felicity. I was worried he was using you to get his big exposé on, CEO of Queen Consolidated and -"

Felicity cut him off. "Yeah… because there was no way a guy like that could ever be interested in a girl like me!" She didn't even get to go on a second date because of Oliver. Her date had found out what her nosy boss had been up to and told her he didn't want to get in between the strange relationship they had going on.

"That's not why I did that. And you know that!" He was almost begging her to understand.

They have gone over this matter so many times. Yet, she had never really gotten over it. Probably because she didn't really believe in whatever reasons he was giving her. "Well, that's what it felt like…" She spat not even looking at him.

Suddenly everyone was silent. Sound of thunder and rain became more prominent. One of the cameramen came close to her to get a close-up of her fired up face.

"Eh… guys, I don't think this is how the game is supposed to go. I think we're supposed to take turns. Ehm… Laurel, isn't it your turn now?" It was when Mckenna spoke that Felicity realized that there were people other than Oliver and herself in the room.

She awkwardly glanced at the other girls. None of them seemed ecstatic by the way the game was going.

"This game is such a waste of time… " Isabel rolled her eyes.

Oliver drank his glass of vodka and slammed the glass down loudly as though to demand everyone's attention. "Never have I ever kissed a guy I didn't have any feelings for, to get my job done."

Felicity turned to him sharply. She had thought her letter would have been enough to clear any misunderstandings he may have about the kiss. If she remembered correctly, she had apologized for the kiss in her letter. Yet, he still seemed very eager to know her response. His eyes were tracking her every move.

What was he trying to pull? Had he forgotten she was there because of him? What if someone figured out their kiss wasn't real?

He filled her glass for her and placed it in front of her. She cast her eyes at the glass and then at Oliver. If she didn't drink, it would prove to him that she felt something for him. If she did drink, it would mean she didn't have any feelings for him. Which would be a lie.

Even though she didn't know what exactly she felt towards him, she knew something was there. She had indeed felt something when they kissed the other day. She had indeed felt something when she woke up naked next to his gloriously naked body that morning, long ago.

But then again, it could all be just hormones.

"That's it! I'm leaving!" Isabel stood up.

As if some kind of a divine intervention, lightning struck loudly and the lights went off. One of the girls screamed in a very high pitch tone. Yet, Felicity simply sighed in relief. The sudden power failure was a blessing in disguise. Now that everyone seemed to be distracted by it, they may have to end the game there and she wouldn't have to make a choice.

"Felicity, are you ok? Felicity?" Oliver sounded impatient when Felicity didn't answer him straightaway. "Felicity?" he called again.

She could barely make out Oliver's face from the little light coming from outside. But, the more her eyes got used to the darkness, the more she could see. "Yeah, I think so…" she finally answered him.

"What happened?" a cameraman asked another. Although the lights were out, the little red light flashing on his camera indicated that his camera was still rolling.

"Turn night vision on!" someone whispered.

"Aren't you guys going to fix this?" Oliver glared at the production crew standing about the room, apparently doing nothing productive to get the lights back on.

"Yes, Mr. Queen, we're trying to call someone," a man replied.

"I think I saw some candles somewhere in the living room. I'll go and get them." Laurel slowly walked towards the exit.

Felicity expected Oliver to go after her. But, surprisingly, he didn't even turn to look her way.

"Wait! I'll come with you!" Instead, Mckenna accompanied Laurel into the living room.

"I'll be in my room… Call me when you guys get this thing fixed." Isabel rose from her chair. "Oliver, can you help me find my room?"

Felicity didn't want to stick around and watch how Isabel's little drama was going to play out. "I'm going to go and check the power supply." It was not only computers she was good at fixing.

"I think Felicity probably might need my help with that." Oliver gave out a nervous chuckle.

Felicity headed towards the kitchen counter, looking for a flashlight or an emergency light. "No, it's alright, Oliver. I think I can handle this," she said as she rummaged through the drawers.

"Let's go, Oliver. She says she doesn't need your help," Isabel talked in a very seductive tone.

"Eureka!" Felicity finally found a flashlight. She turned it on and happily moved it around. Accidentally, she flashed the light right at Oliver and Isabel.

They were standing very close to each other. It seemed as though they were about to kiss. Isabel had her eyes closed and her lips pursed. Oliver's eyes were opened wide and his hands were on her hips. It was hard to say whether he was trying to pull her closer to him or whether he was trying to push her away.

Isabel's eyes flew open. "What are you doing?" She winced as she turned around to the light.

Felicity hadn't meant to interrupt whatever they were trying to do in the dark. She was just moving the light around and they just happened to be standing there. "Sorry." She quickly switched the flashlight off. "I'm just going to go and see where the main power is." She turned around and started to walk in the direction of the storage room, where she remembered seeing some kind of a power source. "Because there's no one in this highly paid reality TV show crew that knows how to fix this…" She turned the light back on and pointed it at the cameraman who was following her. "I'm guessing you're highly paid. Right? If you're not, you should be! I mean... you've been holding that camera the whole day… how heavy is it anyway?"

The cameraman didn't answer he just trailed her as she nattered endlessly.

"Felicity, wait!" Oliver came running after her.

Felicity looked over her shoulder. She saw no sign of the former ballerina. "Where's Isabel?"

"I asked one of those nice cameramen to escort her to her room," he explained.

"Oh…" She proceeded to walk and he quietly walked alongside her.

Felicity flashed the light at the walls beside them. "I think it's in there!" she said once she found the entrance to the storage room. She turned around, not realizing how close Oliver had been standing. She collided against his hard, sturdy body and tumbled backwards, dragging him down with her.

The knot that was supposed to hold her robe together, went loose. She could feel the heat of his body flush against her skin through the thin fabric of her PJs.

"Are you alright?" Oliver asked, still lying top of her.

"I think so…" she muttered, trying to ignore the intimate position they were in. Something told her they've been in this exact position before. And those visions of them falling into his bed, came back to her. She screamed mentally and managed to get the images out of her head.

"So, have you-" he stopped short.

"Have I what?" She knew what he maybe hinting at, but she acted clueless.

"Have you ever kissed a guy who you didn't have any feelings for?" he asked.

She suddenly became aware of the camera hovering next to her. "Are we really going to have this conversation lying on the floor like this?" She aimed the flashlight at Oliver's face and he instantly closed his eyes.

He grabbed her hand that held the light and pinned it over her head. "So, you're not going to answer me?" His breath fell on her face and she felt her face go aflame.

She was thankful that no one could spot how red her face probably had gone in the low light. "I think you should already know the answer." Felicity couldn't understand why he was being so persistent. She, all of a sudden, began to fear that maybe Oliver hadn't found the letter or most probably had lost it. It wouldn't be the first time he had lost something.

"Ah!" Someone's screams filled the mansion.

"What was that?" Felicity's eyes quickly turned to the direction of the sound.

"Felicity?" He turned her face to him by her chin.

"Hmm?" She wanted to say something other than just hum, but it was all that left her mouth. She wished she could release her hand and point the flashlight at his face again. Just so that she could read what emotions were playing on his face.

"You… I…" He hesitated to say whatever he was trying to say.

She may have been imagining it or it was an optical illusion created by the lack of light, in any case, she thought that his face was slowly inching closer to her. "I think we should probably go and check on the others," she suggested.

"Probably, yes," he agreed but he didn't make any effort to move off of her.

"Someone might be in trouble," she pointed out, but he just lay there staring at her.

"Might be…or it could be nothing," he replied huskily.

"It could be Laurel?" She hoped the thought of his ex-girlfriend in trouble was enough incentive for him to move.

"It could be," he said. Yet, he didn't budge, his lips just kept moving closer to her.

"Oliver?" she called confusedly and closed her eyes. The anticipation of his lips touching hers, made her lips tremble. The little flashlight fell from her grasp and rolled into the corner of the storage room.

He still kept her hand pinned, while his other hand glided down the frame of her body and settled at her hip.

"Felicity…" he uttered. He closed whatever little gap that was there between them and pressed his lips gently against hers.

She let out an eager moan just as his lips made contact. At first the kiss was tentative, tender and slow. But, when her free hand got a hold of his belt and drew him closer, immediately the kiss turned to something passionate and wild.

She forgot about the cameras or where she was. She wanted this moment to last forever. She was burning. She wanted more.

Her body was slowly beginning to melt into him, when suddenly his hand wandered over the pocket of her pajama pants. She felt him slip something inside the pocket. Her eyes shot opened as she realized what this kiss was all about. It was his own version of "Plan C".

She felt used and was infuriated. At the same time she knew this was no different from what she had done on their date. Nonetheless, she pushed him away. Just because she understood why he was kissing her, that didn't mean she would just let him continue with it. "I'm going to go and see if everyone is alright." She picked up the flashlight and stomped away. Her heart was still racing fast and her legs were still shaky. Hearing Oliver's footsteps close behind her, didn't make it any easier for her to calm down.

She rushed up the stairs. There was some kind of a commotion happening on the second floor. Everyone was gathered around the entrance to Isabel's room. In a corner, Laurel was trying to console a very distraught looking Isabel.

"What happened?" Felicity asked a female crew member, who just came out of the room looking as disturbed as Isabel.

"There's…" she just mumbled something and walked passed her.

"Don't touch anything until the police come!" Mckenna was ordering the production team.

Felicity peeked inside. She saw something scribbled on the white wall behind Mckenna and pointed the torch at the wall.  _"I know all your secrets, Isabel Rochev. And you won't get away with it!"_ The words seemed to have been smeared in blood.

Felicity's mind quickly ran to the message she had found on her mirror few days ago.

"What's going on?" Oliver was standing behind her.

Felicity couldn't answer him. She kept thinking about the message on the mirror in her bathroom and whether it was somehow connected to the message in Isabel's room. She had thought it was some silly prank, but it seemed she was wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to KarenfrmMD for betaing.
> 
> Here's another chapter

The lights were back on. The Cameras were still rolling and the rain still poured down without any mercy. However, the atmosphere of the mansion was not what it had been couple of hours ago.

There was no murder scene. But, knowing that someone's blood may have been shed to write that cryptic message on the wall, it truly felt like someone had indeed died. The fact that the police had later on, found some of Isabel's clothes shredded into pieces with something sharp, had everyone feeling more than a little unsettled.

Some of the crew had gathered in small clusters in different spots in the living room. Some of them were discussing amongst themselves about what had happened and some of them were giving their complete attention to Isabel as she gave her statement to a police officer.

Thankfully, the cameramen, too, seemed to be only interested in Isabel and the 'oohs and ahs' the others were giving in response to her story.

Felicity leaned against a pillar on the far corner of the living room, somewhat away from the crowd. She hadn't yet made up her mind whether she should reveal the message she had found on her bathroom to the police or not. Something was holding her back from walking up to the officer and just telling him that she had gotten a very similar message few days ago.

Her head began to buzz. Probably due to the vodka she had taken earlier. It wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. Usually, she would have been tripping on her own foot after that many shots. The rush of adrenaline she had gotten from playing that stupid game and the rush she had gotten from the kiss, seemed to have helped her keep the effects of the vodka from ever truly surfacing.

Or it could be the other way around. It could be that it was the kiss itself that was making her feel lightheaded and the vodka could be the thing that was keeping her stable. She didn't know for sure.

She scanned the room for Oliver, the cause of all of her problems. While ago, she had seen him pacing about, with his phone in his ear. He had been trying to get in contact with Sebastian Blood. But now, Oliver was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she found Mckenna and Laurel silently standing at the bottom of the main staircase, listening to Isabel.

A hand tugged her from behind and she jolted back in surprise. "Felicity…"

She spun around to the familiar voice. "Oliver?" She instinctively grabbed his hand as her eyes ran over the worried expression he bore.

He laced his fingers with hers and drew her out of her peaceful corner. "Felicity, I need talk to you. In private."

Privacy was a rarity within the mansion. Although, none of the cameramen were hovering around them at that moment, there was no telling when one of them may pop up behind them.

Amid everything else, none of them may not even realize that their one and only blonde contestant and the billionaire to be missing from the scene. However, there were still tiny cameras and microphones installed all around the house that could definitely capture their conversation.

The only place where they could actually find any privacy, would be in one of the bedrooms. But it was impossible to sneak up there without anyone noticing.

"What about the cameras?" she whispered as she followed him.

In spite of her reminder, Oliver continued to drag her away through a deserted corridor and into the study room.

"Oliver, what is it? What's wrong?" she asked her worried boss, her eyes searching for any cameras.

If their private conversation did get caught on camera, she hoped they would find the footage of them just talking, too boring to be aired in the one hour TV show. Anyway, she doubted any footage would take precedence over anything involving the message written in blood. Well, except may be for that mind numbing kiss they had shared in the dark.

"I want you out of this stupid show." He pushed her gently behind a large book case, making her stand with her back resting against the cold white wall.

She didn't know what she had expected him to say, but she wasn't expecting to hear that. "What? Why?" She tried to direct his attention at the camera she had just spotted on the wall right across them.

He didn't even bother to look at it, he merely moved closer to her. "I don't care who sees this, Felicity!"

He seized her by her arms and her heart raced. Suddenly, she found herself breathing heavily than before.

"I just don't want you to stay here and get hurt." His voice turned softer and he gazed into her eyes as though they were the most precious thing in the world. "We don't know who is doing this or why! And I just don't want to…" He suddenly let go of her arms. Only then he seemed to have realized how firmly he had been holding her.

She knew that he cared for her in some form or the other. But, whenever he would get so worked up over her getting hurt, she would always feel unexplainably overwhelmed.

Last time Oliver had reacted like this, was a few of months ago. She had jokingly mentioned of the Lacrosse player, who used to stalk her in college. And he would not leave her apartment until she agreed to install the state of the art security system he had brought from QC.

She remembered him sounding just as desperate and concerned that day as he did now.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt because of me." He ran his hand over his stubble in frustration.

His eyes, his voice and the closeness, were doing something funny to her insides. She may not have been sober earlier, but she was completely sober now. The only thing that was affecting her senses now was just him.

"Oliver, it's…" She wanted to tell him she was going to be fine and it was probably a stupid prankster. Yet, considering the message she had found in her bathroom mirror, she was not so sure herself.

What's more, she wasn't sure whether she should tell him about the message. It would only serve to worry him more. But then again, she never did like keeping secrets from him.

She took in a deep breath and decided to tell him about the message once and for all. "Few days ago… there was a message in my room. I thought it was Helena trying to be funny. I don't think it is -"

"What? What did it say? Why didn't you tell me?" His strong hand wrapped itself around her wrist.

"It said-" She was silenced by the sudden appearance of a cameraman.

Seeing the large camera lens pointed right at their faces, Oliver quickly released her wrist and moved back. From the way Oliver's determined eyes stared at her, the way his jaws clenched, she knew he had one thing in mind and that was to get her out of the show immediately. What the message had said, didn't really seem to matter to him.

He marched off without saying another word and she went after him, glaring at the cameraman that came running behind her.

"Get that thing out of my face!" Laurel's father, Detective Lance growled at a cameraman as he came down the stairs with another officer.

Quentin Lance coincidentally was put in charge of investigating the mysterious message and for the past hour or so he had been examining Isabel's room for any traces left by the perpetrator.

Oliver stopped in his tracks at Lance's voice and Felicity finally managed to catch up to him.

"Daddy, did you find anything?" Laurel asked her father as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

Just as the detective was about to open his mouth and answer her, Sebastian Blood entered the room folding his broken umbrella. "Sorry I'm late. My car broke down." His clothes were soaked and his wet hair lay flat on his head. He took off his coat and handed it over to one of his assistants there. "You must be the Detective in charge. I'm Sebastian Blood, the producer of this show." He approached the detective with an outstretched hand.

"Detective Quentin Lance," The Detective introduced himself as he warily shook Sebastian's hand.

"So, Detective what did you find?" Sebastian asked.

"Well, not much. But, I can tell you that it's not real blood on that wall. It's mostly maple syrup and food coloring. I've seen some pranksters use this stuff before. And, don't you guys use this kind of stuff all the time in show business?" Lance looked for confirmation from the crew members standing about.

"What are you trying to say? Are you suggesting that one of our members might be involved?" Sebastian's hands dove into the pockets of his jacket.

Lance took a moment to jot something down on his note pad and then look up at Sebastian. "It means, Mr. Blood, while anyone can be the person who wrote that thing on the wall, considering the fact that whoever done it, seemed to have known that the bedrooms and bathrooms are camera free… And cutting off the power, will turn certain cameras off, there's a big chance that person is one of your guys."

Sebastian scoffed as if to snub off the accusation.

Oliver's index finger flicked against his thumb as he studied all the faces present in the room. Felicity had noticed him doing that strange thing with his fingers, whenever he was feeling tense over something. She didn't care even if the whole world saw them, she simply wanted to take his hand and calm him down.

She searched for his hand, with her eyes set on the scene before her. But, before her hand could find his, he found hers.

With a loud clanking noise, something dropped onto the hardwood floor. Everyone turned their heads to the sound to find a broken glass lying at the feet of a lanky man. "I'm… I was… I didn't…" he stuttered, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.

"Mike?" Sebastian glowered at the young crew member.

"I wasn't really going to do anything bad. I'm… I'm sorry… please…" the man muttered.

"Mr. Mike, is there anything you want to tell us?" Detective Lance slowly crept towards the frightened man, signaling the other officers to stay alert.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I just wrote those two messages because I had to… I had to… I just wanted to…." Mike slurred, his stare constantly falling to the exit to the left of him.

Lance took couple more steps. "Two messages?"

Mike's eyes sought Felicity out from the crowd. "In her bathroom." He pointed at her.

Felicity subtly got her hand loose from Oliver's hold and stepped forward. "It was written in lipstick. And… And I didn't think it was anything... I guess… I should have told someone," she told the detective, secretly wishing she had not let go of Oliver's hand.

"I'm sorry!" The man cried, his hands shaking in fear.

The crowd, some of those who may have been Mike's friends, had already begun to whisper things about him. If Felicity had to ever guess who had written the message, she would have never thought it would be Mike. He just didn't look like the type of man who would do such a thing.

Lance commanded one of his junior officers. "Garry, take him into custody!"

The police officer went forward with the handcuffs hanging from one hand and the terrified man tried to make a run for it. Mckenna, who had stealthily slithered closer to Mike, managed to get a hold of him and pull him down to the ground. The other officer, too, quickly ran to her aid.

"Please, you don't understand, I didn't mean to hurt anyone! I wasn't going to do anything else, please believe me!" Mike pleaded as the other officers cuffed him with Mckenna's help.

"Miss. Smoak, I'll send Garry later to take a statement from you," Lance told her before turning around to leave. "All of you can go back to doing whatever that you were doing, now!" he told the crowd.

"Detective Lance!" Oliver called after him, "Is there any possibility we can get some extra security in here?"

Lance looked back at his Daughter. Laurel was talking with a rather animated Mckenna, who no doubt was explaining to Laurel, how she managed to tackle the prankster down.

"Ok, Queen, I'll see what I can do…" Lance gave a small nod and walked away.

"Is that really necessary? They caught the guy!" Felicity stood with her arms crossed frowning at Oliver. She didn't want any more eyes following her around than there were already.

"It's just a precaution." He glared at her as though to compel her into believing that extra security was indeed necessary. "And, Felicity, next time… I really hope there is no next time, and this matter is closed. But, will you promise to not to wait for a week to tell me if something like this happened again?"

She began to stammer under his gaze. "But… I thought it was just a-" She guiltily looked down and clicked the points of her bunny slippers together.

"Promise me?" He put his hand on her shoulder and bent down a little to meet her height.

She looked up and when her eyes met his, she could only utter a barely audible, 'Ok'.

"I'm going to talk to Sebastian and see if I could get couple of my security people in here, too." He stepped back, giving her a little reassuring smile. "So, I guess I'll see you on our next date then, Miss Smoak." He winked at her as he made his way towards Sebastian Blood.

Felicity walked backwards, caught up in her own little world and she bumped into something solid. "Oh! It's you again!" She grumbled, realizing she had collapsed against the same cameramen that had caught them in the study room.

"You know that you two are my OTP right?" He looked over the camera and grinned.

"What?" She knew what the term meant. In fact she had a few 'OTPs' herself. But, she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she and Oliver could be someone's 'One True Pairing'.

"I ship you two. My wife adores you and I think my three year old son is sort of in love with you," the cameraman added.

"Oh?" She didn't know what to say. Should she say thank you or call the man and his family crazy?

To her knowledge, they had only aired one episode. How could anyone fall in love with someone who they have seen on their TV screen for such a short amount of time?

Then again, why not?

But what if these three people are the only people in the world that liked her? What if everyone else, the whole world thought of her as some gold digger and hated her?

The whole OTP thing too, was too much to take in for her. But, what could they be calling them? Feliver? Smoaqueen?

"I think I'm going to go to my room and lie down for a bit." She ran up the stairs.

She could hear the cameraman follow her, but she ran without looking back and closed the door behind her.

She flopped straight into her bed, feeling utterly exhausted and confused. It had been quite an interesting day, to say the least.

She closed her eyes tightly, wanting to escape the crazy thoughts running in her head.

She may not have closed her eyes longer than a half a minute, when her eyes shot opened remembering Oliver's letter. With everything else that had been happening around her she had almost forgotten about it.

She reached into her pocket and pulled the paper out. She put her night lamp on and unfolded the

crumpled paper.

Her face shrunk seeing just two sentences there. "This is it?" she said to herself as she turned the paper over to see if there was anything else written on the other side. But it was completely blank. She turned it back over and read the two lonely lines. " _Thanks for the Info,"_  the first line read. " _PS: I miss my EA,_ " said the last line.

She couldn't believe he had executed plan C, just for that. To say 'Thank you' and to say that he missed his EA.

Of course, he would miss his EA. There was no other EA like her. No other EA would take part on a TV show just to spy on her Boss's ex-girlfriends. Sure, he promised her a vacation of her choice, but that was beside the point.

Hoping it would make more sense if she read it again, she read the last line for a second time. But it just frustrated her more.

Was it some kind of a riddle? A clue? Did he only mean he missed her as his EA or miss her, Felicity Smoak? She turned onto her stomach and screamed into her pillow, "I hate you, Oliver Queen!" She couldn't understand why he had to always do things that confused her. Make her believe in things perhaps that are not there.

Maybe it was her fault. Maybe she was the one who was trying to put more meaning into trivial things. Maybe it just meant what it meant. He had simply missed his EA and only his EA.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be putting up three chapters today because I didn't update the last two days. Here's the first of the three. Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Thanks to KarenfrmMD for being so wonderful and betaing this story.

Felicity may have climbed a mountain a week ago, but that didn't mean she was completely cured of her fear of heights. Certainly, not to the point where she was happy to be blindfolded and taken away to God knows where in a chopper. "Why do I feel like I'm in an opening scene of one of those horror movies? You know, the ones where the blonde girl gets killed with an axe, just before the movie title rolled in? Don't get me wrong, I trust you, John. But, when someone flies you to a secret location on a private jet and then blindfolds you before putting you into a chopper, a girl has to wonder…"

"Are you calling me an axe murderer?" Felicity didn't need eyes to know that John Diggle was wearing one of his snarky smiles.

"I'm just a bit nervous," she mumbled, balling her tense hands into fists.

"What are you nervous about, Felicity?" The host's professional tone alluded to the fact that there was a cameraman in there, somewhere. "Why are you nervous?" Diggle asked her again.

It was not just the thought of the helicopter crashing into a deep abyss that scared her this time. There was more to it than that. She just didn't want to tell anyone the whole truth. She couldn't. "I don't know. I'm just nervous."

How could she tell anyone that the note Oliver had given to her in secret, had something to do with her feeling so on edge? His note had nothing of substance on it, really. Yet, still, it had enough things written on it, or rather not written on it, to mess with her mind.

Then, there was her note. The new note, which she had written last night. The one that was now, idly lying inside the very cutely stitched pocket, of her favorite red dress. Unlike Oliver's two lined note, this new note of hers had some interesting news, concerning Mckenna Hall. The girl had divulged some info about herself, the night before, over a few scoops of ice cream and a manicure.

Felicity figured she needed to pass this info to her boss, using one of her three plans. And just the thought of plan C, had her head spinning. The guilt she felt for having to tell Mckenna's secret and breaking her trust in turn, made matters even worse.

"We are here," Diggle informed her.

The helicopter shook a bit in its landing, jerking Felicity forward in her seat. She gripped her seatbelt firmly. "Aren't you going to take these blindfolds off now?" She heard the helicopter hatch open and a loud whoosh of air rushed inside.

Diggle unstrapped her seatbelt and carefully led her onto her feet. "Not yet!" He shouted amid the sound of the fast turning propeller blades. "There's a step not that far away from you. Put your foot there and… jump!"

Diggle was moving around, but she had no idea where he was or what he was doing. "Mr. Diggle… John?" She moved her foot cautiously, until it found a step. Hoping she wasn't actually jumping out while the chopper was still flying hundreds of feet above ground, she leapt out. "Don't let me fall!" she shrieked.

"Gotcha!" Diggle caught her by her arms and guided her through the gushing winds of the chopper.

Her short red dress was fluttering about and her ponytail was sailing behind her. She was so happy and relieved to finally hear her heels click against the earth beneath. "So, for how long are you going to keep me blindfolded?" She held her dress down with one hand as the other blindly searched for something to hold onto.

"Not for long!" the host replied as they continued to walk.

They walked for few more minutes, until they could hardly hear the chopper. "Let's take this thing off of you now."

The blindfolds came off and everything looked all too blue. She pressed on the bridge of her nose, sensing a headache coming on. "I really shouldn't have worn my contacts tonight." When her vision finally recovered, she saw Oliver. He was smiling brightly, dressed in one of his expensive suits. The throbbing pain in her head disappeared instantly and she felt at ease. She hadn't seen him in a long while. Two days to be exact, but it felt like it had been more. She knew she should be downright mad and tell him off for his stupid note. But, she couldn't stop herself from sounding excited. "Oliver!" she greeted.

Perhaps later, she would find a way to reprimand him. She was in fact, determined to find away. Hopefully, she would be able to do so, without revealing what the real motivation behind those kisses was, to the rest of the world.

"I think it's time for me to leave. Have fun!" Diggle went back to the chopper, with one of the two cameramen that had been filming them. Leaving the remaining cameraman to do what he did best, pry on their conversations.

"So…" Oliver started.

"So…" Felicity, too, started, but then her eyes ran to the lagoon behind Oliver. "Where are we?"

"They didn't tell you?"

She mumbled a 'no' and looked for something that may clue her in on where she was. Everything felt different. The trees, the colors, even the air she breathed seemed heavier and smelt different, exotic. She couldn't explain how, but she simply knew they were not in the same continent anymore. They did fly for a very long time in that jet and then some, to still be in anywhere near Starling City.

"What's that?" She pointed at some kind of a boat that was edging closer to the lagoon shore.

Few lamps hung on different parts of the boat and its small roof. The amber light emitting from the lamps reflected upon the calm body of water, which the boat so gracefully floated on. So, as the helmsmen steered the boat, it gave the impression that he was steering it through a stream of gold and not water. With the backdrop of the sinking sun, it truly looked like a picture taken out from one of those travel magazines.

"We're in Thailand. And we are about to go on a dinner cruise on that traditional Thai boat." Oliver hooked his arm with hers and took her closer to the shore. "So, what do you think?"

Her heels sunk deep into the wet sandy shore, but she didn't mind it all. It merely reminded her of that day, which she was invited to go camping with the Queens. Obviously, she was not an outdoorsy person. Nevertheless, when your boss's mother asks you to come along with them, you just go. Even if it was last minute and you were dressed like you were going to a business meeting.

Then, by night, she found herself lost in the woods with Oliver. She couldn't remember how it had happened exactly, but she just remembered it being all Oliver's fault.

She refused to take her heels off that night and walk barefoot at any cost. Her stubbornness led to her ankle being sprained and Oliver giving her a piggyback ride back to camp. She may not have enjoyed the sprained ankle, but she loved the little talk they had during that piggyback ride.

She wasn't expecting a piggyback ride tonight or a sprained ankle. Although, with her luck, she figured that the latter could be a possibility.

However, that slight nostalgic feeling was already making her love their second date. "Way better than our first date! Not that I didn't have a good time that day. But it doesn't look like I'll have to climb anything in here tonight. I hope not. Because, these heels are not made for climbing…" She studied the boat for a second longer, as if to mentally measure how safe it was. "Or for swimming," she added, making Oliver give out a short laugh.

"Don't worry, I'll throw you a life jacket," he mocked as they both waited at the shore for the boat to come a little bit closer.

"My hero!" she sang in a sarcastic tone, flashing her best fake smile.

When the boat finally hit the bank, Oliver helped her get onboard. The boat wobbled as it adjusted to their weight and Felicity grabbed a hold of Oliver's arm. "Is this thing going to be doing this the whole night?"

"I hope so." He donned his Cheshire grin, casting his stare on to her hand, forcing her to give her attention to it as well.

Her hot red painted fingernails casted a striking contrast against the sleeve of his dark grey suit. Then, suddenly, she envisioned her nails drawing patterns on his bare chest. It had to be some kind of a fantasy. Maybe even jet lag. She was prepared to let it be anything, except for a memory that was fighting to resurface.

"Are you ok?" He put his hand over hers.

Something spurred within her at the contact. She quickly drew her hand back and looked away at the water. "I just… jet lag..." She fled towards the small round table near the tail of the boat.

"Shall we sit?" Oliver drew out one of the chairs for her.

"Ok…" After ironing out few imaginary wrinkles in her dress with her hands, she sat on the weird egg shaped chair.

Rose petals were sprinkled about the wooden floor and small lotus shaped candles were floating inside a glass ball at the center of the table. Yet, what caught her eye the most was, the two white flowers that were sticking out from a small ceramic vase. She touched one of the delicate petals and took in its unique fragrance. She promptly recognized what the white bird like flowers were. 'White Egret Orchids', one of her favorites. Had Oliver truly paid that much attention to her babbles or had the production team been really thorough with their research? It just couldn't be a coincidence that this rare orchid had ended up on that table in Thailand. Could it?

"Champagne?" Oliver took the champagne bottle out of the ice bucket and popped its cork out. The cork went flying off in the air and dropped into the lagoon, creating few ripples on the otherwise still water. He then poured some champagne into the two flutes and sat on the chair opposite her. "So…" he started again and the boat swayed a little bit as it began to move away from the bank.

"So…" Why did you kiss me to give that stupid note? And, what do you mean you miss your EA? She wanted to ask so many things. In the end, she asked nothing of the sort.

"Has everything been alright after…" he paused.

After the kiss? After she read his note? "After what?" she grimaced.

"After that whole message on the wall thing? I hope everything is alright?"

She saw his hand reaching towards hers and she dropped her hands to her lap. He seemed severely disappointed as he drew his hand back and grabbed the champagne flute instead.

"I guess." Felicity shrugged and one of the straps of her dress slid off her shoulder. Shooting Oliver a nervous glance, she put the strap back on. She saw him gulp his drink, his eyes sparking a concoction of frustration, nerves and - lust?

A tense silence followed suit as they held each other's gaze longer than necessary. Somehow she managed to tear her eyes away and take a quick sip of champagne. "How is your EA?" There, she had finally brought it up. Next, she would have to steer the conversation into a direction that would reveal the true meaning of his letter.

His face changed in a flash. And there it was again, his playful grin. "Cute," he answered.

"Cute?" She didn't know what emotion was written on her face as she spewed out that one word. All she knew was it was visible and was out there for everyone to see.

At the end of the night, she just hoped she wouldn't end up looking like some petty jealous woman. Because, she was not jealous. She did not do jealous. She only wanted to know what that last line on his letter meant. That was it.

She puffed out an angry breath and plucked her champagne flute off the table again. "I'm not asking what she looks like. I'm asking, how good she is at her job." She brought the champagne flute up to her lips and tasted some again.

"Oh, you mean my substitute EA?" He poured himself another glass.

So, he was referring to her earlier? He thought she, Felicity Meghan Smoak, was cute? "Oh?" She almost choked on her next sip of champagne. But, she did well to recover and not to add anything stupid to it.

She was not totally new to his flirting ways, but tonight, the feeling was different. Whatever that had happened between them during the past few days, made his words sound very different.

Oliver took his time. He closely observed the bubbles in his champagne glass fizz. "Well, considering the fact she might see this on her TV soon, I'll say she's… good?" He finally looked up at her.

"Good?" She gave a shaky laugh. What was she worried about anyway? He did say, he missed his EA in that letter of his and he did promise her, she would have her job back when all this was over. Then, just now, he mentioned that his new EA might see this on TV. So, that could be the only reason why the girl was graded as ' _Good'_. But, still, Felicity was expecting to hear a ' _Meh'_. Maybe an ' _OK'_  at best. Not ' _Good'_.

"Hmm..." he only said as much.

"Better than me?" Very subtle, Felicity! She could just face palm herself. Now she was going to look like a jealous woman fishing for compliments. "I don't mean it like that. I mean, how good is she exactly? Not exactly! I don't think you can measure it using anything but..."

"At what?" He finished his champagne and smiled wryly at her.

She clenched her teeth. He very well knew at what! "At being your EA, what else?"

"I'll have to think about it…" He looked up at the sky as if he was looking for the answer in the stars that were just starting to emerge. "I mean… she might not be good at some things, but she doesn't complain or make excuses when I ask her for a coffee."

For God's sake, she was on a reality show for him and he was complaining about the coffee he never got? And, it was not as if she had never ever brought him a cup. "Ha ha, not funny!" she scoffed.

The boat stopped with a slight shake, cutting their conversation short. Felicity looked around and saw that they were now far away from land. The cameraman who had gotten onto the boat with them was circling their table, documenting their expressions.

The boat was not big enough to carry many people at once. Not without completely destroying the romantic mood that they were trying to project. So, since there were no servers onboard, it was the old helmsmen himself that had to serve them their food.

Felicity loved Asian food and all of what was stretched out in front of her, looked utterly delectable. She took her chopsticks and tasted some. She couldn't help but close her eyes and moan as she savored the taste. When her eyes opened, she noticed Oliver staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing." He smiled and picked out all the green onions out of her plate. He knew she didn't particularly like them. "Here," he then shared some of the things on his plate with her.

Then it was her time to stare at him and wonder. They were cohabiting. Without the sex or actually living together. They had been doing this for a long time, but it had taken her a reality TV show, climbing a mountain and flying over to another continent, to realize it.

She had missed this. The sharing, the banter, Oliver being a jerk and she being a know-it-all and pointing it out to him. She missed those nights, where they spent watching movies and eating pizza on her couch. She missed the way he slowly laid her back on the couch when she had fallen asleep, only to return later with a blanket, thinking that she was still fast asleep. When, in truth, she was already awake, because she had just lost his warmth.

She missed him. He may have missed just his EA, but she missed him. She missed Oliver Queen.

"Felicity?" He called her, bringing her out of her musings.

"Hmm?" She hummed dazedly.

"You looked like you were-"

"Jetlag!" she claimed and returned her focus on to her plate.

They finished their wonderful dinner with very little conversation. Her head was too full of thoughts to try and concentrate on carrying out a long conversation.

When the table was cleared, Oliver stood up and gave his hand to her. Felicity didn't know where he was going to take her or for what, but she just let him lead the way.

He took her to the left rim of the boat, from where they could see the horizon. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on. But, before she could get a word out, he put his finger to his lips and shushed her, "Wait."

Not a moment too soon, fireworks shot up into the sky out of nowhere. She gazed up in wonderment as the fireworks illuminated the sky.

The cameraman lurking behind them reminded her that they were not alone and she had a job to do. She slid her hand into her pocket and dug the letter out. It was time again to execute plan C. She didn't want to, but plan A and B, never seemed possible. They never seemed as foolproof as plan C. "Oliver," she called him. He was still staring up at the sky. "Oliver," she called again.

"Hmm?" He turned to her this time. From the little glint she saw in his eyes, she realized he already may have figured out what was coming next. He already seemed to know what she was planning to do. In fact, his eyes strayed to her hand that was fisting the little note.

He seized her by her forearms and moved closer to her. "Habenaria radiate," he leaned forward and whispered into her ear.

"Huh?" She barely heard him over the fireworks that continuously blazed into the sky.

"Habenaria radiate," he repeated, staring intently at her.

She was stumped. She was so taken by the proximity, the way he was holding her. She could not think straight.

The two words he had uttered should make some sense to her. She should know its meaning. Yet, standing on that boat as the fireworks sprinkled color onto the sky above them, those words felt all too foreign to her. For a moment, she thought he was casting a spell on her. A spell, that apparently had made her lose her mind.

The small note, which she had kept safe for all those hours, somehow flew out of her hand. It floated away with the wind like a tiny bird and fell into the water. In a way, she was glad that she never got to give that letter. She felt she was saved from being a bad friend to Mckenna.

As she watched the small scrap of white paper soak and sink into the depths of the lagoon, she suddenly recalled what 'Habenaria Radiate' was.

Oh! How could she have ever forgotten? His pronunciation may not have been perfect, but she should have known sooner. 'Habenaria Radiate' was the scientific name for the White Egret Orchid.

So, it had been Oliver all along. He had chosen the flower?

"Felicity…" he said softly, his warm hands cradling her face. His lips lingering ever so closely to hers.

He can't be still thinking that she would go through with plan C now? He saw her lose the letter. He had to have seen it disappear into the lagoon. He must know that there was now no need for it. "But the thing…" Her eyes ran to the point, where the letter had vanished into.

"Forget the thing!"

"But?" She unconsciously licked her lips as her eyes strayed to his lips.

He shook his head as if asking her not to worry over it. Maybe he had another silly message of his own to pass on to her. "Let's give the people what they really want."

"What?" Confused would have been an understatement for the way that she was feeling.

His hands landed on her hips. "Let's give them an Olicity moment." He pulled her closer to him and his head dipped towards her.

"What's an Olicity mome-"

He pressed his lips onto hers without a warning. Without explaining to her what in the world was 'An Olicity Moment'.

Her eyes still lay open in shock as his lips moved so tenderly upon hers. Her mind still worked two billion light years per second, for her to truly to revel in the kiss. She waited for him to secretly slip something into her pocket. Any moment now, she expected him to give her another note. But, there was nothing. There was no note.

She slowly closed her eyes and finally gave into the reality. Oliver Queen was kissing her. Because, apparently, he wanted to create something called, 'An Olicity Moment'. She didn't know what it meant, but it sure felt good. Better than good, great. Excellent!

She would think and worry over the reasons later, when she got back to the mansion. For now, she decided to simply enjoy the moment.

She deepened the kiss as his hands roamed on her back, pulling her towards him. She could feel every muscle in his body ripple against her. He seemed so sure of himself, of what he wanted. She moaned and writhe in his embrace, craving to for his touch. Her hands snaked themselves around his waist and gripped the material of his coat into a bunch, behind his back. She was breathless and shaky, but she wanted more.

"Watch out!" the cameraman yelled.

Felicity jumped back, breaking the kiss in the process. She turned and saw one of the iron rods on the roof come off. It was flying straight towards Oliver. She put her hands on his chest and shoved him down. In the confusion of it all, he snatched her arm and they both fell over. Oliver fell on his back with a thud and thankfully the sharp iron shaft missed them both.

"Are you ok?" It took a moment for Felicity to realize that she was sitting on Oliver, with her legs straddling his waist.

His eyes raked over her. "I feel great!" he replied with a sly smile.

She rolled her eyes as she tried to get up, off of him. "We really need to stop falling on top of each other like this!" She muttered.

He caught her hand and stopped her from getting up. "God, I missed you." The words seemed to have escaped him so naturally and spontaneously. It surprised them both.

While she realized that was all she had wanted to hear from him the whole night, he gazed at her as if he had had a revelation of his own.

He may have kissed her for whatever reason, but this was what she had wanted to know. He had missed her. He had truly missed her.

She saw that bit of her lipstick was smeared on his lips and began to wipe it away with her thumb. She laughed, "Red, just isn't your color Mr. Queen." She was not aware of what she was doing until she noticed his usually sea blue eyes take a much darker shade.

"Are you both alright?"

Oliver and Felicity both looked up at the voice. They saw the cameraman and the helmsman's worried faces staring down at them. Felicity tugged her hand out of Oliver's clasp and quickly scrambled onto her feet, "Uh... yeah…" She fixed her dress as she looked away from the camera, hoping to hide the deep blush she felt taking over her face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second one..
> 
> Thanks again to KarenfrmMD for reviewing this chapter...

Another elimination night. It was just the second elimination, but Felicity was already tired of the whole process. She sighed as she sat on a couch along with the other three girls. "I hate these things!" she muttered, earning a shake of the head and a soft smile from Laurel.

"Scared, because your date was a complete disaster?" Isabel mocked.

"No!" Felicity defended as she narrowed her eyes at the brunette sitting on her right. She couldn't have been more wrong about the date. It may have come to an abrupt end, but it was far from being a disaster. "It was perfect!" At least, until that iron rod came flying their way.

As a matter of fact, the date had gone so well, only two things had occupied her mind ever since she had returned from Thailand, Oliver Queen and that kiss. The kiss, which she had dubbed 'Without the Plan C Kiss', tortured her, immensely, deeply, every second of her existence. Sometimes it tortured her in a good way, where she would wake up with a smile on her face. But, sometimes, it tortured her in a way that would make her forget if she shampooed her hair or not.

"Why aren't they starting it already?" Mckenna whined beside her.

Felicity cranked her neck to look over at the entrance, just in time to see Oliver walk in, looking as dashing as ever in his dark blue suit. A slight shiver ran down her spine when their eyes met for the first time. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she forced herself to not to think about how his lips had tasted that night. Despite her efforts, she could almost feel his lips on hers still. Taste him even then. A mixture of Asian spices, champagne and a unique taste that was him.

"Here we go…" Isabel fixed her hair and plastered on a smile.

Oliver walked over to his mark, with his eyes set solely on Felicity. She could feel the intensity, the heat in his stare almost scorch her bare skin. He beamed and everything else around her turned into nothing but a blur. She blamed it on her contact lenses, her eye doctor, the lights and everything else.

"Tonight, before we begin we have a small surprise for all of you." Diggle entered the room shortly after and stood beside Oliver.

"What now?" Mckenna groaned in Felicity's ear.

Before Felicity could give her witty remark on what she thought of the impending surprise, Diggle started to speak again. "Tonight, before the elimination, we're going to show you what the outside world thinks of our show and all of you. Maybe this might also help Oliver decide, who he is going to eliminate tonight." He gave Oliver a little glance.

Oliver looked more confident than he had looked at the last elimination. He didn't offer a response to the host. He just turned to the big flat screen TV next to them.

A small animation accompanied by a cheesy introductory music began to play on the TV. Once the thirty second theme music of sorts came to an end, it showed an old woman sitting on a park bench. " _I think this show is great! I love it_ ," she stated happily.

Then a much younger woman came up on the screen. She was trying hard to keep her dog from running off. She kept tugging the Great Dane by the leash as it barked at something. " _Five women fighting for one man? I hate these kinds of shows! They put these women together… his ex-girlfriends… who, in real life, might even like each other…. and they try to create drama! They do all this just for ratings!"_

Choosing to show negative comments seemed like a poor attempt by the producers to make their show appear transparent, real and raw. As far as Felicity knew, no reality show would ever present things just as they had happened. Lot of things got altered, removed and improved at the editing room. Billionaire Bachelor was no different. It may have been her idea to make Oliver participate on the show in the very beginning. Yet, then, the show was not about Oliver and his ex-girlfriends, and apparently his EA. It didn't look as contrived then.

" _And I have no doubt in my mind that most parts of this show are scripted!_ " the woman continued.

Felicity recalled the poorly written script, she was asked to follow on her first day on the show. For a moment, she felt like standing up and agreeing with the woman on the video. Knowing she couldn't really do that, she silently nodded along with the comment.

The clip abruptly cut to a group of screaming girls. " _OLICITY_!"

Felicity's eyes immediately ran to Oliver. She wasn't the least shocked to see him staring at her.

He seemed as if he had million things to say to her. Maybe she was dreaming, but his eyes seemed to be asking her, to run away with him. To give up the whole show and go home with him. Maybe that was what she had wanted to see in his eyes, when most probably, he was just trying to explain to her what 'Olicity' stood for.

She was no idiot. Well, when it came to most things. So, it didn't take her that long to figure out what 'Olicity' or an 'Olicity Moment' was. Although, she would have much rather liked their ship to be called 'Smoaqueen', she realized 'Olicity' was indeed, their ship name. She had been a fan-girl of too many TV shows for too long not to recognize that an 'Olicity Moment' referred to a moment between Oliver and her. Preferably, a romantic one.

While she wondered whether their ship name was spelled with one 'L' or a two, she also wondered whether the kiss was merely an 'Olicity Moment' for him. A moment, created just to appease the fans. 'Fan servicing' of sorts.

Difficult as it was for Felicity to believe he would use her like that for the sake of ratings, she couldn't completely disregard it either. " _Let's give the people what they want… Let's give them an Olicity moment_." The words he had said just before the kiss rang in her head again. Had he merely given the people what they wanted?

She shook her head instantly as if to disagree with herself. Although, the reason behind the kiss may have been somewhat vague, his admission of missing her was clear as the blue in his eyes. " _God, I missed you!"_ he had said, lying on his back, on that boat _._  Every cell in her body knew those words were not lies. That he meant it. That it was no fan pandering. And, somehow those words mattered more to her than anything else. Probably, even more than the 'Without the Plan C Kiss'.

" _I only watch the show because my wife likes it_." A man laughed on the screen and Felicity was able to use the distraction to tear her eyes away from Oliver.

" _He's lying!"_ The man's wife elbowed him on the gut. " _He's the one who makes me watch it. I think he has a crush on that lawyer girl,_ " she accused her husband with a teasing smile.

" _Yeah, that's true_ ," the husband finally admitted.

Laurel chuckled a little at that exchange.

" _Have you seen Isobel Rochev?"_ A couple of good looking men high-fived each other. _"She's hot!"_

" _Just because a woman knows what she wants and she does what she can to get it, she's depicted as some kind of a villain by the media. I think Isabel Rochev is the strongest woman in that show. She should win this,_ " another woman pointed out and the man sitting next to her agreed with a nod.

From the corner of her eye, Felicity could see Isabel sit with her nose held higher than usual.

Four young women then appeared on the screen. " _I think Felicity is the one for Oliver. They have great chemistry. And, did you see that kiss on top of that mountain? They are perfect for each other. They've been working together for a long time and you can just see how different Oliver is with her. They know each other so well. I think they've been in love even before they came on the show_ ," one of them said.

Felicity was afraid to even move her head. She didn't want to even mistakenly turn and learn Oliver's reaction to that particular assessment of the two of them. The girl couldn't be right, could she? Were they in love even before they joined the show? Were they in love now? Was she in love? Was he?

" _I think she's it for him_ ," the girl added, flashing a smug smile at her friends.

Felicity secretly prayed for the video to end soon.

" _No! Laurel! She's perfect for him. I heard she was the reason why he agreed to do the show,"_  the girl's friend remarked.

Felicity eyed Laurel. She was sitting there without showing much of a reaction. The girl on the TV screen was right. Laurel Lance was the reason why Oliver had agreed to do the show. Even if he had never said it so bluntly, she knew.

Laurel was Oliver's ideal woman. She had been so, as long as Felicity had known him. Anyhow, that was what people around him had always told her. Supposedly, Laurel was the one that got away. The one that he never got over.

" _No, it's going to be Mckenna!"_  Another one disagreed and went on about how wonderful Mckenna was. However, Mckenna heaved a sigh as if she didn't believe in any of it.

" _All of you are wrong! Oliver Queen doesn't deserve any of them. He's a -_ " Rest of the statement was bleeped out, but Felicity could still make out the gist of it from the way the girl's lips were moving.

This time, Felicity turned to Oliver. He was watching the video with his jaws clenched and his hands balled into fists at his sides.

Maybe the old Oliver was all of those things that got bleeped out. The new Oliver, the Oliver that Felicity had gotten to know over the past few years was nothing like that. Anyone would have done stupid things, if they too were young and had a trust fund that could feed the whole city of Starling. Now, he was not that Oliver anymore. He was not 'Ollie', who graced the tabloids every day, anymore.

He was the guy that made sure his little sister went to rehab, when she got addicted to Vertigo. He was the guy that saved Queen Consolidated from drowning in debt and being discredited, after his mother made a horrible investment on a not exactly legal company called, 'Tempest'.

He was the guy, who accompanied his EA to Arkham Asylam to meet her father, one stormy day, not that long ago.

After more than twenty years, her father had suddenly remembered that he had a daughter and had decided to contact her. She could still remember how shaken she was, when she heard his voice over the phone. When she received the call, she was standing inside the QC elevator with Oliver, going up to the 36th floor. She could barely remember how she managed to tell the story to Oliver that day. About how her father had declared himself insane, only to get out of going to prison for a murder he had committed. Although, Arkham Asylum was no place for a vacation either. There were stories being told about the place and none of them were good, not even remotely. Her father may not have thought his plan though as well as he had thought. He was never known for thinking his plans through, anyway.

She could barely remember, how she cried as she told Oliver about his father requesting to see her for one last time. Because, he believed he may not ever get out of that place alive.

She may not remember lot of details about what happened on that day, but she remembered one thing very clearly. She remembered Oliver put his arms around her and coo soothing words in her ear, until they reached their floor.

After they had stepped out of the elevator, he promised her that he would go with her, if and when she decided to meet her father.

And he did. He held her hand as they walked through the dark corridors of the asylum. Whenever screams of prisoners filled the empty halls, he reminded her that he was there for her.

And he was. He held her hand as she blasted her father for abandoning her mother and her. He entwined his fingers with hers, as she quietly listened to her father give her the same cockamamie story he had told her mother, all those years ago. He squeezed her hand, when she finally forgave her father, because she believed it would help her move on.

After they both had walked out of the cell, he went back in again, alone. He didn't tell her why or for what, but she knew.

The cell door closed behind him as she waited outside with a guard, her arms wrapped around herself. She could scarcely hear his voice through the thick walls of the cell. The words were scrambled, but harsh.

Minutes later, the door finally opened and he stepped out of the cell. She didn't have to ask him, what he had said to her father. She knew. She knew he had made his father regret every decision he had ever made in his life.

That night, they stayed at Gotham Grand. They had no other choice. It was too late, the storm had worsened and she was too tired.

He had gotten them two different rooms. She wanted to oppose. She wanted to tell him she would rather be with him. But she stayed quiet, because he had already done too much for her. But, he had known. He had known she needed him and that was why he had knocked on her door only an hour later.

His excuse was lame as they came. He told her that he had wanted to watch a movie, but apparently, the TV in his suite was broken. He was Oliver Queen he could have ordered them to bring hundred TVs up to his room with no questions asked. But, he had decided to come over to her room to watch some silly movie he didn't even know the name of. He was a terrible liar. So, she knew. She knew it was because of her.

She woke up alone in the bed the next morning, but the empty spot on the bed was warm and smelt like him. And she knew he had been there for her just as he had promised.

'Ollie' was a jerk, a brat. He was the poster child for 'spoilt rich kid'. However, 'Oliver Queen' was a man, who cared about his father's legacy, his family. He cared about her.

Tears prickled in Felicity's eyes and threatened to fall as she gazed at Oliver Queen. She wanted to tell him to not to believe in those bleeped out words on that video. But, he was standing too far away and she felt utterly helpless.

He suddenly turned to her as though he had heard her silent cry. He smiled with her as though to ask her to not to be sad and smile along. And she did, very poorly.

" _I don't normally ship real people, but how can you not ship Olicity?"_  The video was still playing. People were still commenting on the show.

" _Feli-city, I love you,"_ mumbled a little boy with bright blue eyes.

Somehow, that cute little 'I love you' made her feel so much better. "Aww…" she managed to say, wiping the one tear, she felt sneak out from the corner of her eye and run down her cheek.

" _Felicity, if things don't work out between you and Oliver, give me a call_." A man dressed in the tackiest suit out there, read out his phone number and winked at the camera.

Felicity winced at his gesture, while the rest of the girls had a good laugh.

" _Olicity… I think_ …" answered a cute guy in his twenties.

" _I love Felicity…"_  his friend added.

" _Laurel…"_  said another.

The clip went on for about another five minutes. It seemed that most people really loved them as a couple and it seemed 'Felicity Smoak' had become a household name. People talked about her as if she was some kind of a star. Was she now, what they called a reality TV star? It was definitely strange for her to suddenly be talked of like that. She felt, she hadn't done anything to deserve any of it.

"It's time to let us know your decision, Oliver," the host said.

Oliver didn't even take a moment to deliberate. "Felicity." She was his first choice.

Felicity stepped towards him slowly. "Hi." She stopped a foot or so in front of him.

He presented her a rose. As much as she was happy to receive the rose, she wished he had eliminated her. So then she would have been able to go home, to QC, to him.

He held her by her elbow and moved closer. His thumb ran over her cheek, where her tear had streamed down earlier. Her eyes closed almost magically at his touch. He, somehow, seemed to know that she had shed a tear. Maybe her cheek was still wet. Maybe her mascara was running. Oh, God, was her mascara running?

"You look beautiful…" He placed a soft kiss on her blushing cheek, his lips almost touching the corner of her lips.

Miraculously, all her worries disappeared with that one deft kiss. She didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she heard herself inhale sharply. She opened her eyes only to see his eyes boring into her. "Hmm… Thanks." She swallowed dryly, and walked back to her spot on the couch.

"Laurel…" he called next.

She gracefully made her way over to him.

He handed her the second rose and gave her a little peck on the cheek. There was something odd about the way they stood, the distance they were keeping. Things seemed to have gotten more awkward between them. Something big seemed to have happened during their date. But what?

"Thanks." Laurel returned to the couch, anxiously twirling the flower by its stem.

Oliver called out the next name, with the remaining rose in his hand. "Mckenna…" As soon as he had uttered the name Isabel shifted in her seat. She seemed to have already guessed her fate.

Mckenna looked determined and confident as she stepped towards Oliver. "I want to say something…" she said after taking the rose from him. "I came into this show, because, long time ago, I thought Oliver Queen dumped me, because I was not like the other girls. Because, I didn't wear any makeup and care about my clothes... and my hair… So, I decided to change myself for him. For you."

Felicity looked at the young cop, startled. She knew Mckenna had been as frustrated with the show just as her. They had been bonding over their mutual dislike of the show the past couple of days. And she had revealed to Felicity about the reason why she was there and why she thought she shouldn't be there anymore. That was what Felicity had tried to warn Oliver about. That was what she had written on that letter, which she never got to deliver. But, Felicity never for once thought, Mckenna would actually say those things to Oliver herself. Not so soon, anyway. If she had known she would have never bothered to write that note in the first place.

Mckenna's eyes avoided Oliver's confused ones. "I changed my self, just to make Oliver Queen fall in love with me. Just to dump him, when he chose me as the winner of this stupid show."

Someone from the crew gasped loudly at Mckenna's confession.

"I'm sorry… Mckenna, I…" Oliver started, but Mckenna cut him off.

"But… the last few days I've been thinking… This is not me!" She looked down at her dress and her shoes. "This is not who I am. This doesn't suit me. Revenge doesn't suit me," she said exhaling a shaky breath. "I realized I'm here for the wrong reasons. And now that I know you're not the same Oliver Queen that pretended to care about me just to get out of a DUI … I can't do what I came here to do. You've changed, Oliver Queen." She looked around the room nervously and continued with her speech. "But, after I helped those cops that night… to catch Mike, I realized that was who I am. I like helping people. I like being a cop. I was… I am good at it. And, if I ever want to change my self, it should be for me, not for some childish vendetta." She laughed, but there was sadness in that laughter. There was regret in her eyes.

"I'm … I'm sorry I was a jerk," Oliver stammered out an apology.

"I believe you." She nodded. "But, you know what's funny? I don't think I could ever make you fall in love with me even if I still wanted to. I don't think I would have ever been successful. Because, I know you're already in love with someone else. Someone great." She looked over her shoulder at where the rest of the contestants were sitting. Was she looking at Laurel? She couldn't be looking at Oliver's EA, could she?

"So, I'm going to walk out of the show," she declared turning to Oliver.

"Are you sure about this?" Diggle asked.

"Never been so sure about anything in my life," Mckenna replied with a wide grin. "Good Luck…" She waved at all of them. "Take care." She walked off and the whole room fell silent for a while.

"I'm sorry, Isabel…" Diggle finally broke the silence. "Oliver gave the last rose to Mckenna. So, it means Oliver has already chosen to eliminate you. So, I'm going to have to ask you to say your goodbyes to Oliver and the other contestants."

Isabel looked shattered, but only for a moment. She was always quick and good at veiling her real emotions. "When you get bored with them, call me…" She winked at Oliver as she walked towards him.

"You're never going to change, are you?" Oliver asked smilingly.

"But, you have." She smiled back. "I hope you find the person you're looking for, Oliver." She brushed her lips against his. "One for the road," she teased before walking out of the room.

Felicity looked to her left, at Laurel. There were just the two of them left now. The show seemed to be coming to an end sooner than she had thought. A couple of weeks ago, if someone had asked her if Oliver had to choose between his ex-girlfriend, Laurel Lance and his EA, Felicity Smoak, who would he pick, she would have said Laurel Lance, without a second thought. But now, if she were asked the same question, she wouldn't know how to answer it.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as promised here's the next chapter...

Oliver looked at the brunette sitting across the dinner table from him. 'Laurel Lance', the girl he had sulked over for almost half a decade, was sitting in front of him and he didn't feel what he thought he would.

His heart didn't beat as if it was about to burst out of his chest. His eyes didn't stray to her lips every other second. He wasn't trying to find excuses to touch her, to be close to her. There was none of that and he wasn't surprised by it either.

Their previous two dates, more or less, had been the same. No deep seething urge to take her hand and run back home. No desperate desires to run and find some secluded place, where they could do more than just talk. There was nothing like that.

For the longest time, he had thought he had wasted his chance at a perfect life with her. However, now that the life he had supposedly wanted was in his reach, he had come to the realization that this wasn't it. That she wasn't it.

He was beginning to realize that he may have never wanted that perfect life to begin with.

"I'm sorry about last time." Laurel put her fork down and stared at him over the two candles standing at the middle of the table.

Their last date had been strained. She had leaned towards him for a kiss, but he had pulled back quickly. Though he had mumbled a fast apology, she had looked utterly distraught and embarrassed by the incident.

Then somehow, one thing had led to another and before they had even realized, they had once again started to argue about Sara.

He had tried to apologize on behalf of his younger, stupid self. But she hadn't wanted to hear him out.

He couldn't really blame her for still carrying a grudge though. It was his fault. Whatever that may have gone wrong with their relationship, could never justify his actions. "No, you had every right to be angry."

Laurel's gaze fell to the centerpiece of roses lying in between the two candles. She stared blankly at it for a moment and set her eyes on him again. "But, you were trying to apologize. And I should have at least let you speak."

Oliver sighed as he placed his fork and knife on the side of his plate. He didn't deserve to be heard or forgiven. He had hurt her. The worst way possible. "But… you were right. I understand."

His attention drifted to one of the cameramen, who suddenly moved closer to the table.

Despite the romantic setting the staff at the restaurant had created, there had been nothing that could be called romantic going on between them. Nor had there been many interesting conversations going on. Well, not until now.

So, it wasn't shocking to see the cameraman suddenly acting more interested in the conversation.

Oliver wondered how this footage of them would be portrayed on the show. It would be edited and exaggerated, no doubt.

He was somewhat aware of the public's response to the show, more in particularly, online. However, he had never truly sat through a whole episode. He had seen some parts here and there, but had never watched the whole thing.

Sometimes, he would go down to the TV room, just to see what Thea was squealing about. And more often than not, he would find Thea squealing over whatever Felicity did or said or what he did on his dates with Felicity.

It felt odd to see himself on TV. Particularly, with his very enthusiastic sister, commenting on every little thing they were doing on the show. But, still, he would always find himself sitting down and watching the clips that involved Felicity. He enjoyed watching her. As creepy as it sounded, even if it was just a clip of her eating a scoop of ice cream in the background, he would find himself utterly engrossed on it.

He missed her. He missed asking her to bring him coffee and not getting one. He missed her babbles, the slip-ups and the way she sometimes ordered him around in his office, even though he was the CEO.

It wasn't like how he had missed Laurel. It wasn't even remotely like that. While memories of Felicity brought a smile upon his face, made his heart ache for her, memories of Laurel had merely brought a sense of guilt and barely anything more.

"I forgive you," Laurel blurted, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He hadn't thought she would ever forgive him. Certainly, not after all those names she had called him on their last date.

"Ollie, I don't know what you may have heard about me. But, I'm guessing now that I'm on a reality TV show, people might be saying lots of things about me. Unpleasant things. Maybe they are even calling me a gold digger... I don't blame them… or you… if you think like that… because look at me," she laughed dryly at herself. "I'm in debt and I don't have a job. And I'm on a TV show trying to win the heart of a man, who slept with my sister."

"Laurel, I know you're not like that. I know you are not here for my money," he quickly reassured her. Even after reading Felicity's letter and finding out what Isabel had thought of Laurel, he hadn't been that quick to judge her. They may have had their share of problems, but he knew Laurel wasn't that kind of a woman. He had met plenty of those in his life, but Laurel wasn't one of them.

"I'm glad to hear that." She offered him a smile. "But, I think the real reason I'm here is not just because I wanted to win you over, Ollie. I think I also might have wanted to move on. To see if we could ever be, and if not, move on…" She took a deep breath and released it slowly. "If you've ever really been in love with me, I don't think you would have done what you did. If I've ever really been in love with you, I wouldn't have tried to change you into something you were not. What we have is… what we've had was unhealthy and maybe not what we… I thought it was. And so, I think it's time for me to move on."

Oliver felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of him. He felt freer. "For  _us_  to move on," he amended as he nodded in agreement.

There was a very open smile playing on her face. She, too, seemed to have felt the lightness of not having to deal with that elephant in the room anymore. "I think you have already moved on, Ollie. You just don't know it, yet." She gazed at him a second longer, as if she was reconsidering what she had just said. "Or… maybe you already do know," she then added. "Anyway, that's one of the many reasons why I realized I also have to move on."

He stared at her, not knowing how to respond to her admission. She was right. He didn't know when, but he had moved on.

Maybe he had moved on after the very first week of being on the show.

Maybe it had happened after that one morning, when he woke up, caught in the embrace of a beautiful blonde. Without knowing how she had ended up in his bed, naked.

Maybe he had moved on few months ago, when he had unbeknownst to himself, had decided not to get involved with any other women. Even though he was not in an exclusive romantic relationship with anyone. At least, not officially.

Maybe he had moved on, even before that. Maybe, when he had decided to stop treating women like his playthings. So that a certain blonde friend wouldn't look down upon him.

Or maybe it had happened even before that. When he met the nervous babbling blonde for the first time?

"Oh, don't act like you're so surprised I'd noticed! I sensed something was going on between the two of you, the very first day. And that tattoo…" she trailed off as she pointed at his shoulder, shaking her head.

"What about my tattoo?" He frowned.

Her eyes went big as if she was revealing a big secret. "Ollie, it means happy!"

But, he had already known what the tattoo meant. It was no secret. "So?"

"Really? You're  _that_  clueless?" she sounded frustrated and, yet, strangely amused.

"It's just a tattoo," he said. He didn't believe his own words though.

"Ollie, you got drunk and you basically got her name tattooed on your arm… because you missed her so much!"

"It means happy!" he reiterated what she had said earlier, but with a wide spread smile.

"How many synonyms do you know for the word happy or happiness?" Laurel tapped her fingers on the table as she waited for him to say something.

It was not as if the thought had never crossed his mind. It was not as if he had never thought about synonyms. It was not as if he had never caught himself wondering, whether there was any connection between the tattoo and all those voice messages he had left on his blonde EA's phone that night.

"I give up!" Laurel said seconds later, when he didn't offer an answer.

He beamed again and then she knew that he knew. His smile let her know that he indeed knew few synonyms for the words 'happy' and 'happiness' and that one of them was 'Felicity'. He had just been too scared and stubborn to admit it.

But, now the show had somehow forced him to open his eyes and admit to things he had perhaps known all along.

The kiss on top of that rock had certainly forced him to see things more clearly. Even if he had not realized it at that moment. Even if Felicity had called it merely a part of Plan C.

However, after the first elimination, he had gone home and thought things over. Really thought things over.

He had gone home and skimmed through the images saved in his phone, until his fingers froze on an image of them both. A 'selfie', he had taken while she was sleeping on her couch, cuddled next to him. He had simply wanted to keep that memory with him forever. Very well knowing, she would have probably called him a stalker, if she had ever gotten her hands on that photograph.

Then he had written that silly little note. The one that said, " _Thanks for the info. PS: I miss my EA."_ He was just being one of those boys, who pulled the pig tails of the girl he liked.

There was a bit of tit for tat, but a lot of, 'I want to taste her lips again', involved when he had decided to execute his version of Plan C. And he did execute it, on the floor of that mansion, in the dark. Her lips were soft and warm. Her body was fragile, hot, and beautiful, and felt perfect under him.

"I like her," Laurel declared out of the blue.

"I like her, too - a lot." He missed her, too - a lot.

The reason he had continued to keep her on the show had nothing to do with Felicity being his spy anymore. It was because of the wonderful chance the show had given him to explore a different side of their relationship.

He may not have crossed that boundary so soon or ever, if not for the show. He would have been too afraid of messing things up and losing her. He would have been too worried about Felicity's reputation being tarnished by being involved with her boss. Although, apparently, it seemed that people at QC had already been talking. They had already been speculating about them.

Yet, now, because of the show, the relationship that the whole world otherwise would have frowned upon was now revered as if it was some fairy tale. Their relationship, what it was and whatever it was now blossoming into, had become acceptable by the masses.

There still were those who degraded their relationship, but, they were scarce.

"Oh, I don't doubt that even for a second." Laurel grinned, finishing off what was left in her wine glass.

He felt as if he had finally and completely, lost the guilt that had been weighing him down and had gained a new friend.

After few more short, but pleasant conversations and of course desert, they decided to call it a night.

He drove Laurel back to the mansion and walked her to the door. His eyes travelled to the row of windows on the second floor. He wondered, where Felicity's room maybe. He wondered whether she was awake or asleep. Whether she was dreaming and whether those dreams were about him.

Laurel cleared her throat beside him. "Hey, Romeo, her bedroom is on the other side of the mansion," she mocked, covering her mouth to hide her giggle.

"Oh… right… I was just…" He scratched his neck nervously.

"Goodnight, Ollie." She placed a kiss on his cheek and smiled. "For old times' sake…" she clarified and ran up to the door, with a cameraman tailing her.

"Goodnight…" He watched Laurel open the door and disappear behind it.

His stare fell upon the second floor one more time. Just in case Laurel was wrong and Felicity's room was not on the other side of the mansion.

"Her room really is on the other side," the cameraman who had been standing beside him, confirmed.

"Right," Oliver nodded, heading back to the car.

He just had to wait one more day. One more day and he'll see her again. He would then let her know how he felt and he could only hope that Felicity felt the same way. He could only hope that whatever that had happened between them, wasn't just all pretend for her.

"Ollie!" Thea came running down the stairs as soon as he entered the Queen Mansion. "So, did you meet Felicity today?"

"My contract says, I'm not allowed to say anything about what I did on the show, before the show actually airs." He knew his sister well. She may not do it purposely, but she had a habit of blurting out secrets.

"I'm not going to tell anyone. I promise," she begged.

"No!" he said firmly, dragging his feet up the staircase.

"But, I'm your sister!" she cried as she followed him to his bedroom door.

He stepped inside his room and turned to look at her. He gave her a smile. He could see his little sister's eyes go wide, thinking that he was about to spill the details about his date. Which, she had assumed was with Felicity. No! She didn't assume she wanted it to have been with Felicity. If the Olicity t-shirt she was sporting was anything to go by.

"No!" he shouted and shut the door on his snoopy little sister's face.

He heard her grumble something and stomp off.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, he slumped into his bed. He wanted to fall asleep quickly. Because, then, he wouldn't feel the need to keep staring at the damn clock on the wall. But, the problem was, he couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow night.

He hoped their next date would go as well as the last one in Thailand.

She had looked amazing that night in her short red dress. He had kept envisioning tearing it off of her and he wasn't sure if it was just a fantasy or something else. Either way, he kept pushing those thoughts back, afraid that he would act upon them.

He had arranged everything himself that night. From the little White Egret flowers on the dinner table, to the fireworks. He had wanted everything to be perfect. He was done mucking about and had just wanted to show her how much he cared about her.

When he had leaned forward to kiss her, he had seen the little note, which she had been palming. Once more, she was trying to execute Plan C.

Weirdly, he couldn't help, but smile at that for some reason. Especially, at the way her expression changed when the note got swept away with the wind and fell into the water. He didn't care about the note. He didn't care about the fact she didn't get to relay whatever information that was on that note. He had simply wanted to kiss her. Kiss her senseless.

So he did. Until that iron rod had gotten in his way.

But, honestly, he loved it when she ended up straddling him after saving his life.

He wouldn't mind doing something like that on their next date either. The straddling part, not the part where he almost died.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the lovely KarenfrmMD for betaing...
> 
> So this would be the last update for awhile.

"So, what are you going to cook for me tonight, Mr. Queen?" Felicity beamed as she sat on the barstool on the other side of the kitchen island. She was glowing under the dim lights of the small country kitchen and Oliver found himself completely enamored by her. "I'm hungry," she complained, glancing at the empty pan in front of him.

"Patience, Miss Smoak." He rolled up his sleeves and got ready to cook his famous mac and cheese - the only thing he knew how to cook.

He gazed over at the ingredients dispersed on top of the counter. All of a sudden, cooking felt like such a daunting task. It seemed all too complicated than he remembered.

He actually should have thought things through before suggesting that their date should take place at the Queen family vineyard. Moreover, he should not have ever given the vineyard staff a day off, thinking he could make dinner all by himself.

At the time, when he had proposed the idea to the producers, it had sounded very romantic in his head. Besides, he had supposed they would have more privacy this way. It was not as if he believed they could have any real privacy, with two cameramen and a production crew around. However, he had figured that it would be, at least be better than having seven more eager staff members, fussing about, trying to impress their boss.

"Hope you have a number of a good pizza place." Felicity leaned over the island to reach for the platter of grapes, inadvertently offering him a generous peek at her cleavage. He cast his eyes back up to her face quickly, before both Felicity and the camera crew caught him ogling. "I mean, just in case something like last time happens again?" She settled back on the stool and put a grape between her brightly painted lips.

Intense imageries of those same vibrant lips travelling down his abs, began to crowd his thoughts. The images felt like snippets of a distant memory. Perhaps, memories of that forgotten night. It took him a moment and another, to actually recover and give her an answer.

"We're not going to need to order pizza!" he managed to say. Though, in truth, he very well knew her fears were not so unfounded.

Last time, when he had set out to make dinner for her, it had literally turned into a disaster. It had been her fault, really. If not for her short skirt and accidental innuendos, he wouldn't have been so distracted and the macaroni wouldn't have burnt. If not for her, the smoke alarms wouldn't have gone off and she wouldn't have ended up cooking dinner for him, instead.

The memory of Felicity, cooking in her little kitchen, brought a smile onto his face. She had looked absolutely adorable in her apron, which said, 'Smoakin' Hot'.

"Just, don't expect me to take over this time!" she warned, scrunching her nose. She hated to cook. Oliver, on the other hand, absolutely loved her cooking. Well, maybe except for that 'Smoak Special Chicken Soup' she fed him whenever he got sick. "Don't think about the taste, think about how it will help you get better," she would always tell him and he truly would always feel better afterwards. Although, he had a feeling that it had a thing to do with the actual soup, but had all to do with the chef herself.

"I mean it! Don't expect me to make you dinner under any circumstances!" she cautioned him again, fixing her glasses out of habit.

"You won't have to!" Oliver was determined not to have a repeat of last time. Plus, he didn't think that Raisa, his favorite housekeeper, would appreciate him messing up her recipe for a second time.

"Let's hope so..." Felicity threw him a most cynical of looks.

He rolled his eyes at her and ripped opened a carton of macaroni.

"I'm so glad you guys decided not to sell this place," she mumbled after a while, taking in the beauty of the simple, but elegant architecture around her.

The little château at the vineyard had a very unique charm about it. The warm colors on the walls, the old hardwood floors and the rustic furniture, gave it a very cozy feel.

"Me, too," he grinned secretly. His thoughts ran back to the day, they decided to keep the vineyard and its charming château, under the Queen family name.

It was, in fact, couple of days after their visit to Arkham Asylum that he had learned of his mother's decision to put the vineyard up for sale. Apparently, neither had they made a huge profit out of the place nor had they visited there in ages. And that was enough for Moira Queen to decide to give up on, what once had been one of their favorite vacationing spots. Back when his father was alive, they used to spend most of their summers at the vineyard. But, with time, it almost seemed as if his mother had come to see it as just another piece of real estate. Maybe, it could have been her way of, trying to detach herself from her past. Be that as it may, Oliver hadn't been particularly thrilled with her choice. Although, at that time, he had lacked the motivation to tell her that.

So, despite his doubts, on one very beautiful sunny Saturday, he and Felicity had come up to the vineyard to meet a potential buyer. The French buyer, had wanted to see the place and discuss the deal at the site itself.

Much to Oliver's delight, due to some trouble at the airport the Frenchman had never shown up. So, instead of spending the day talking business with a middle-aged man, he and Felicity had just ended up walking about the vineyard - sharing stories and smiles, and occasionally, finding things to bicker about.

Ever since their trip to the Asylum, Felicity hadn't been in the best of moods. Seeing her smiling and being her old self again, was what had made that trip to the vineyard all the more worth it for him.

Later on that night, Oliver learned that the staff had set up their dinner at the veranda. So from where they sat, they had a brilliant view of the acres of land that belonged to his family. He didn't know what kind of a relationship the staff had thought Felicity and he were involved in, but the candles at the center of the table suggested that they clearly didn't think that she was just his EA. But, he hadn't read too much into it then. At the time, he had thought they were just trying to impress their boss.

As the night wore on, he had ordered the server to bring out the most expensive bottle of wine, available in the cellar. He could never forget how her eyes had lit up at the sight of that bottle. Felicity loved her red wine – absolutely loved it.

He could still remember how she had reveled in its taste, with her eyes closed, hands gripping the glass tightly. A satisfied moan had followed suit and he remembered how that sound had awaken the most primal of feelings within him. The manner, in which her tongue had darted out, to lick her lips afterwards, had gotten permanently etched in his mind.

He had had to gulp down more than a couple of glasses of wine, merely, to drown out the overpowering urge he had felt to wrap his arms around her – shelter her from the cold night wind that blew across the veranda.

"It's the best wine I've ever had," she had claimed enthusiastically, that beautiful Saturday night.

Then, somehow, the very next morning, he had woken up and found the motivation he had been searching for. He had called up his mother and told her, that he didn't want her to sell the vineyard.

He had expected his mother to flat-out disagree, to tell him that her decision was final. Yet, oddly enough, she had chuckled and simply agreed to his plea. Almost as if, she had expected him to oppose. Almost as if, this had been her plan all along.

Had his mother put their relationship through some kind of a test? Had his mother tried to play matchmaker? Had she known, that all that moping around for Laurel, had been preventing him from moving forward with what he really wanted? Had she seen what he had taken so long – too damn long to admit?

The new insight jerked him back to the present. His eyes drifted towards the blonde, now sitting in front of him in the kitchen. She was coolly stuffing grapes into her mouth, unaware where his mind had wandered off.

Hard as it was to picture, 'The Moira Queen' playing cupid, now looking back, Oliver realized that his mother had always had a soft spot for the blonde in question. However, he had always assumed it to be his step father, Walter Steel's, influence. Walter held Felicity in his highest regard. "I never thanked Walter for introducing us," Oliver blurted as he decanted some macaroni into a pan.

Felicity titled her head to the side and looked at him puzzled. Probably wondering what had brought along the sudden change in topic. "Technically, I introduced myself to you," she said after a prolonged silence, squeezing another grape between her teeth.

He felt a slight upturn on his lips as he thought back to their first meeting. "By introducing yourself, you mean… you bumped into me and spilled a glass of red wine on me… And then offered to take my pants off?"

She blushed and looked around. All of a sudden, she seemed acutely aware and troubled by the two cameramen lurking behind them. "I just thought… I should clean it up for you. I mean, your pants!" she pointed out nervously.

"But, if Walter hadn't invited you to his birthday bash, I wouldn't have met you… probably." Honestly, he had an inkling that they would have met anyway. If not that night, then somewhere down the line.

"If I hadn't found Walter's wallet at Table Salt …. and not given it back to him, he wouldn't have invited me to his birthday party. So, I technically introduced myself…. Or you could just call it… Serendipity?" she suggested.

He liked that word, 'Serendipity'. It seemed to sum up their first meeting to a tee, but - "I have a confession to make."

"Don't tell me! You broke my favorite mug and replaced it with a one that looked exactly like that?" She made a face- a cute pouty one.

"No! That's not-" It was not exactly the confession he was about to make. "But, how did you find out about the mug?" He had thought he had convincingly replaced the mug. He had made sure it had the same maker, color and size. He had spent two sleepless nights, browsing the net in search of a perfect replica. How could she have possibly noticed?

"Because the old one was chipped at the bottom," she shrugged.

"And you just let me believe you didn't know that I did that?" He acted as if he was offended.

"You let me believe you never broke my mug! So, I guess we are even and …" She paused and eyed the pan he had just placed on the counter. "Hey, don't you think you should boil the water first, and then add the macaroni?"

"If you're going to start micro managing, I'm going to have to ask you to wait in the living room, Miss Smoak." He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at her.

"Ok! Ok! I'm not going to say anything." She pretended to zip her mouth shut and throw away the key. But, it didn't take long for her to find fault in what he was doing again. "Oliver, I think you should-"

He threw her a glare. "Fe-li-ci-ty!"

She put her hands up in defeat. "Ok! Ok, I'm going…" She grabbed the platter of grapes and stood up to leave. "I'm going to go to the living room and see if I can find a number of a pizza place." She looked over her shoulder and winked at him. "No pineapples on your pizza, right?" she teased as she left the room.

"You're not going to need to order pizza, Felicity!" he shouted after her and then looked around at the mess he had already made of the kitchen.

Almost an hour later, after few trials and errors, he was done cooking. In no way, did his mac and cheese look like the most ideal meal for a romantic dinner. Nevertheless, he hoped she would appreciate the gesture. "Sorry, you had to wait for so long." He entered the living room carrying two plates of mac and cheese.

Felicity was sans shoes, sitting on the couch by the fire place. Her legs were tucked under her and she had few Queen Family albums sprawled across her lap. "I was just about to give up and order pizza." She kept the photo albums aside.

"You always underestimate my talents, Miss Smoak," he smirked, setting the two plates up on the coffee table.

She scoffed at him as she put her legs down, hands reaching for one of the plates.

"No, wait! Not yet!" he ordered her before heading back into the kitchen. He returned a short moment later, with two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine.

Her eyes sparkled the same way it always did when she saw the bottle of red.

"Close your eyes," he told her, sitting in front of her, on the edge of the coffee table.

"Why?" she pouted.

He scooped a bit of mac and cheese into a spoon and moved it closer to her mouth. "Just close them and tell me, how this tastes?"

"Ok?" She stared at him warily for a moment and then eventually closed her eyes. "Hmm…" She giggled as she tasted the food. "I'm impressed that you managed not to burn it this time… but, it's too salty." She opened her eyes and laughed at him. "Just kidding…. It's actually pretty good."

He was happy that he hadn't completely messed it up this time. He asked her to close her eyes once more and poured some wine on to one of the glasses. "How about this?" He let her taste the decades old wine - the finest they had in the cellar.

She hummed in satisfaction. "Just like I had a mind blowing orgasm in my mouth…" Her eyes snapped opened realizing what she had garbled just now.

He smiled at her wide eyed expression. "Keep your eyes closed!" he urged her.

Eyes closed, she puckered her lips, ready to do another taste test. He gently took her spectacles off and she started to babble out a protest. "Hey! Don't touch my-"

With no forewarnings, he shushed her with his lips.

She tasted like the wine she just had - addictive, rich and intoxicating. She clung onto his shirt, bunching the fabric in her hands. The husky moans left her throat drove him to the edge of insanity. His lips began to move in a desperate pace, grabbing her by her waist, almost possessively, hungrily and needily. His weight thrust her back deeper into the couch and she let out a soft whimper.

It had been far too long since he had last kissed her and he didn't know how he had survived this long without kissing her – without her.

One hand travelled up and stopped at the underside of her breast. Her bent knee brushed against his thigh and blood rushed to places, which would clearly make for an embarrassing scene.

He realized they probably should stop before things got out of hand, in front of the cameras. Oliver Queen had too many of those clips circling on the interwebs already and he didn't want his precious moments with Felicity to be added to that pile.

Thus, grudgingly and slowly he pulled away from the kiss. "How was that?" he panted, his hands slowly gliding down and off from her.

She chewed on her swollen lower lip and gazed up at him. "Perfect…" she said breathily, untangling her fingers from his shirt.

He admired her flushed face, the way her baby blue eyes had taken a darker sheen. If he had his way, Felicity wouldn't be going back to the Billionaire Bachelor mansion tonight. Instead, she would have been going back with him to the Queens'.

Unfortunately, all he could really do at that moment was to, sit beside her on the couch and eat the food he had made.

"Oliver, you were going to confess something earlier?" Few minutes later, their empty plates were idly sitting on top of the coffee table. They both had relaxed and almost forgotten that they were being filmed.

"I was?" Oliver pretended to be all clueless as he refilled her glass.

"I believe you did." With a teasing smile on her lips she took a sip from her wine.

This was all he had wanted from this date. To enjoy a simple meal with her. To sit on a couch and bicker like they always do.

He scanned their proximity. They both had inched closer to each other on the couch. They were sitting close, but not so close that they actually touched. But, close enough to feel the heat emanating from the other. Close enough for the smell of her perfume to rouse him.

"Alright…" He finished his wine in one long swallow and put the empty glass back on the coffee table. "Remember the first day we met? You didn't really bump into me, I bumped into you…"

"What do you mean, you bumped into me?" She emptied what may have been her fourth or fifth glass and placed it upon the stand behind her.

"I mean…" He stopped briefly. His eyes dropped to her legs. She had ever so casually draped them over his lap. She must be a bit tipsy, he concluded. Because, it was the first time she had done something so bold while awake. Yes, they had kissed, and yes they've had their moments of naked limbs accidentally landing in unusual places. Yet, those instances had never felt like this.

His fingers now, itched to draw lazy patterns on the creamy skin of her legs. He probably would have, if he had not spotted the shadow of one of the cameramen, on the wall behind him.

Felicity and her short dresses! He cussed inwardly and decided to concentrate only on her face. "I mean… Walter pointed you out from the crowd and told me that he was thinking of hiring you as my EA… and I saw you and I thought …"

"You thought what?"

"I thought that my step father might be trying to hire someone, that's going to keep me - his wayward stepson in line. And me, being the jerk that I was then, I thought I will seduce you and… and somehow make sure you never showed up to work. …" It irked him to even think about how he had thought to manipulate Felicity all those years ago. Though, something told him that she wouldn't have fallen for any of his tricks even if he had tried. "But… after you did that 'let me take you pants off for you' bit, I changed my mind… I realized that-"

"You realized that I'm not even worth the trouble? That, I'm not your type?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah…" He had replied mindlessly and then he rushed to correct himself before Felicity got the wrong idea. "No! I mean, I realized that you're not that type of a girl. I realized I wanted to know… if you always babbled… If you babbled like that around everyone…" He found his hand had anyway ended up on her leg, upon the soft spot just below her knee.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to have minded. She most probably was just too drunk to notice. "You sound like you were in love with me even then," she gasped, mortified. "Oh, God! I'm not implying you're in love with me now… or anything like that. Why do I always do this to myself?" she muttered the last bit under her breath.

He loved that she always did this. It may distract him time to time, but he loved her babbling ways.

It made him want to taste her talkative lips once more. He also did have some other things planned for the night. Plan C to be precise.

"Another Olicity moment?" He thought he caught a slight hesitation in her eyes, just before he pressed his lips against her soft ones.

He furtively pulled his note out from his back pocket and placed it on her palm. All the while he was trying to imagine, how she would react, when she would finally read that letter.

"Stop!" Yet, she had shocked him by shoving him off, even before the kiss had time to turn into anything deeper.

That wasn't anything close to the reaction he had expected from her. "What… what's wrong?"

"This!" She threw the scrap of paper he had just slid into her palm and it fell near his feet. "Stop confusing me!" she yelled.

He picked the note up. "Felicity! What's going on? I thought we were…" Maybe it had been a stupid idea to continue with plan C. But, if only, she would give him a chance to explain why he had done that. If only, she had opened the note and read what he had written.

"No! I don't want to listen to you right now! I want to go!" She slipped her feet into her stilettos.

He reached for her hand. "Felicity…" She pushed his hand away and got to her feet. "Felicity! Wait!" Plan C probably may not have been the smartest way to go, this time around. But, he had thought that Plan C to be their thing. He had thought he should tell her how he felt, sooner rather than later and what better way was there than plan C.

That was why he had decided to write those three precious words, 'I love you' on that little note. He had thought it would be the perfect way to bookend their journey on the show. However, it seemed he had been wrong. Terribly terribly wrong! He should have waited until the end of the show. But, he had been too eager. He was an idiot! Not just any idiot, but the biggest one in the universe.

"I have to go!" She was hurrying out of the chateau.

He ran behind her and managed to catch her by her elbow. "Felcity, please listen to me…" He turned her around.

There were tears in her eyes, threatening to fall. She looked both frustrated and miserable. "No! I don't want to do this whole Olicity thing, Oliver!"

Her words shattered his world. Did she think he was doing all of this just for the show? Did she think that he was going along with this because that was what the audience demanded? Or did she really not want to do the Olicity thing? Did she really not want to be with him? Was that what she had meant to say?

She squirmed out of his clasp and walked out into the dusty path that led towards the vineyard gates.

"Felicity?" He followed her, feeling confused and rejected. "What do you mean you don't want to do this?"

She just glared at him for a moment looking as confused as him. Her lips parted as if to answer him, but nothing came out. She turned around and crawled into the limo she arrived in. "Take me back to the mansion!". He heard her command the driver.

A cameraman managed to sneak in just before the engine roared. The limo sped towards the large iron gates, kicking off dust everywhere.

Oliver stood and watched the limo fade into the night. His little note that brought along all that chaos, now lay crushed into almost nothing in his fist.

He had thought everything had been going according to plan, perfectly, in fact. But, everything had taken a turn to something else so quickly, he didn't even know what he was supposed to do now. He was now more uncertain than ever, about Felicity's feelings. Did she even feel anything close to what he felt?

His phone vibrated madly in his pocket and he took it out. An unknown number flashed in his phone. After deliberating over it for a second, he answered it. "Queen?" Detective Lance barked from the other end. Laurel may have been able to let go of the past, but her father didn't seem as if he ever would.

"Yes, Detective?"

"There had been an incident. It might not have anything to do with you… but… We found Helena Bertinelli, unconscious in an alley. She's still in a coma, so we don't know what really happened…but…" Lance muttered in haste.

"You think it has something to do with that guy Mike? He's still in jail, right?" Oliver's eyes instinctively ran towards the trail, where the limo had just disappeared off to.

He heard the detective sigh into the phone, "I'm afraid he was released on bail. But, I don't think it's him. He has a very sound alibi…and… he confessed today that whatever he had done in that mansion was because he was being blackmailed. He was having an affair with an up and coming soap actress behind his wife's back… and he was apparently being blackmailed with some… uhm …distasteful photographs…"

"So, that means, the psycho who really wanted Mike to write those messages, is still somewhere out there?" Oliver ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"It means we have to keep an eye on all the girls, just in case this case with Helena is related…. Mckenna is with her family. I know her brothers and father well. They'll make sure she's safe. And we have yet to track down Isabel Rochev. The news is, she's gone to Europe. I've given the message to Laurel … and I heard that Miss Smoak is with you. So I assume she's safe?"

"She...she just left…" Oliver's stomach churned. All this could be nothing. Helena could have been involved in something dubious all on her own. It may not have anything to do with him or Felicity or any of the other girls. But, he had a very bad feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for being patient and thanks for the comments and kudos. 
> 
> And thanks to the wonderful and awesome KarenfrmMD for betaing this for me.

Oliver hurried through the hallways of Starling General Hospital, pushing away whatever, object or person that stood in his path.  Few feet ahead of him, he spotted Quentin Lance, walking out of one of the hospital rooms.

“Detective Lance, what’s going on?  Is… Is Felicity alright?”  Oliver had been worried over her the moment she had stormed out of the château.  He had been on his way to the Billionaire Bachelor mansion, when Quentin had called once again and asked him to come over to the hospital instead.  Lance hadn’t really explained to him why or given him any time to ask questions.

  
_“Turn your car around and meet me at Starling General.  It’s about your girl, Miss Smoak…_ ” The detective had simply spat at him over the phone and hung up in a hurry.  After learning about what had happened to Helena, Oliver feared the worst and he had rushed over to hospital just as Lance had asked.

“Is… is everything alright?” he asked the detective.

The middle aged man seemed more worn out than usual.  The dark circles around his eyes seemed darker and he looked as if he had been running on coffee and nothing else for a few days.  “Queen, maybe you should sit down first.”  The detective looked around for a chair.

“No!  I don’t want to sit!  Where’s Felicity?  Is she alright?  Is she in there?”  Oliver pushed the detective aside and burst into the room that Lance had come out from.  He didn’t know whether he should feel relieved or alarmed to see that Felicity wasn’t in fact there.  “Where is she?” he yelled at the somewhat familiar looking man lying on one of the beds.

“Mr. Queen!  I’m … I’m sorry, I tried to stop them, but there were too many of them.  I’m so sorry,” the man mumbled in a shaky voice.  He didn’t seem severely injured - just a few bruises on his face and a band aid wrapped around his wrist.  It took Oliver a few seconds to recognize that he was actually the cameraman, who had gotten into the limousine with Felicity.

“Where is she?  Where’s Felicity?” Oliver ground out as he moved closer to the bed, making the innocent cameraman tremble.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Queen… I… I don’t know,” the cameraman confessed.

“Just calm down!  Just let me explain things first.”  Quentin dragged him out of the room from his elbow.

“What the hell is going on, detective?”  Oliver ran a hand through his hair in attempt to compose himself.  Yet, it did nothing.  It did nothing to calm his heartbeat or to lessen neither the fear nor the rage that churned inside of him.

“Before you go all berserk again, just know that I already have my men working on this case.”  Lance gave him stern look before continuing.  “According to Mr. Lenny… the cameramen lying on that bed, they were attacked by five armed men.  The driver has been shot and he is in the ICU at the moment and… and Miss Smoak…  Miss Smoak has been taken… but we are doing everything we can to find her.”

“What?  No!”  Oliver felt something shatter inside of him.  How could he have let this happen?  He should have somehow stopped her from getting into that limo.  He should not have let her go.  He should not have ever asked her to be on the damn show to begin with!  “I have to go!  I have to find her!”

“How exactly are you planning on doing that, Queen?” Lance questioned.

“I don’t know.  But, I just… I just can’t stand here and do nothing!” he yelled, his hands fisting at his sides.

“The best thing you can do is to stay calm.  Whoever has her, might try to contact you, and if they do, we might be able to trace the call.”

“So, you want me to just wait for a phone call, without doing anything?”  He couldn’t just do that.  He couldn’t just idly wait, while Felicity was out there somewhere.

“Just trust me, Oliver,” Quentin pleaded.  It may have been the first time in years Quentin Lance had called him by his first name with any form of warmth and Oliver just found himself nodding.  He was ready to scour the whole world for her, but for the time being he decided to put his trust on Quentin Lance’s experience in handling these sorts of situations.

* * *

“What do you want from me?  Where are you taking me?”  The cold barrel of the gun poking on Felicity’s side urged her to move forward.  Although she couldn’t see a thing through the blindfold, she could just feel that there was some kind of a light source above her head.  The flickering sound of electricity buzzing in her ear, made her think that the light must be unstable and weak.

“To the same place where Carrie died,” the man holding her growled.  His voice seemed to have been distorted by a voice synthesizer and it made him sound all the more terrifying.  “Your fate will be decided at the same place where she met hers,” he said, dragging her up a staircase.

Pieces of rubble cracking under her heel made her lose her balance on the steps.  So, she very gingerly reached out and found a cold iron banister to support herself.  “Who are you?  Who’s Carrie?”

“You will know in due time, Felicity.”  The eerie way her name rolled off her captor’s tongue, made her cringe.  She wanted to cry for help, but she didn’t want him to gag her again, like he had done the ride over.

She had been somewhat traumatized by everything, that she could only vaguely recall the ride or the way she had ended up in this frightening man’s hold.  Her memory was scattered.  Nonetheless, she remembered five masked gunmen stopping the limo, just few minutes after leaving the vineyard.  The limo driver had actually been one of Queens’ bodyguards and Oliver had placed him there for her security.  However, the gunmen seemed to have known that fact and had taken the driver down first.  The cameraman, Lenny, who had always been so nice to her, had done whatever he could do to stop them from taking her.  But, he was far outnumbered.  She, too, had tried to fight off the masked men, but she doubted that those men had even felt her punches.

Then, about half an hour or so later, they had handed her over to this man, who was now taking her inside a building of some kind - seemingly uninhabited.

“Agh!”  She stumbled on one of the steps and hit her head on a wall.

“Move!” the man yelled, pulling her to her feet again.

 

She hoped someone would come for her soon.  Her gut told her Oliver would come for her – told her that he would never give up looking for her.

His face, his eyes and that last kiss at the château, played on her mind as she walked up the stairs.  Her heart pained at the memory of the way they had parted tonight.  She shouldn’t have been so harsh on him.  She had known what she was getting into from the very beginning.  She had known it was always meant to be just an act.

So, what had changed?  To him, it seemed nothing.  To her, everything!  She loved him.  She always had.  But, now that she had realized and admitted that to herself, everything had changed for her.  The act wasn’t enough for her.  Being just his friend wasn’t going to be enough for her anymore.  She couldn’t ever go back to what they were.

Now, however, she feared that she may have lost her chance to tell him any of that.  True, her feelings may not have been ever reciprocated, but she wanted him to know nevertheless.  The thought that she may not ever be able to tell him how much she loved him scared her more than the thought of actually dying.  “Oliver,” she mumbled softly, almost to herself – fully well knowing he couldn’t really hear her.

* * *

Oliver was pacing about in his living room, when he thought he heard her utter his name.  He knew it was his imagination, but his eyes still searched for her.  He kicked the table next to him in frustration, when he couldn’t find her anywhere.  The antique vase that he remembered being there for years fell and broke into few large chunks of ceramic.  Cussing to himself, he looked away from the mess.

“We’ll find her, Ollie and everything is going to be alright.”  Thea caught his hand from behind and he turned to look at her.  She was trying to comfort him, but she clearly looked more affected by Felicity’s abduction than she was letting on.

Thea loved Felicity.  For her dress sense, for her brain, for her ability to talk him into doing anything.  But, mostly, she loved her for her heart - just like everyone who had ever met her did.  In many ways, Felicity was the role model Oliver had failed to be for Thea.  And it always made him happy to see the both of them together and sometimes even see them gang up on him.

“Yes, we’ll find her and she is going to be fine.”  He put on a brave smile for her.  Thea hugged him instantaneously, hiding her little sobs in his chest.  He placed a gentle kiss on top of her head, wrapping an arm around her.  “She’s going to be fine.”  He wasn’t sure, if he had said that just to reassure Thea or to reassure himself.

As seconds and minutes ticked away, Oliver was beginning to doubt his decision to let the police handle things.  It had been more than couple of hours since Felicity’s kidnapping, yet the kidnappers still haven’t tried to make any kind of contact with neither Oliver nor with anyone else.

“No!  No comments!  We’ve already given our statements about the kidnapping, please respect our privacy!”  He heard his mother shout from the study room.

“Yes, we have made sure the bodyguard is receiving the best medical attention the hospital can provide,” Walter’s voice followed.

For the last two hours, both Walter, his mother and their PA’s have been on their phones, trying to deal with the press.  The news about Felicity’s kidnapping had spread like wildfire.  Oliver wondered whether the reason the kidnappers still hadn’t made their demands had anything to do with the attention the media was paying to the whole incident.

Although Felicity’s face constantly showing up on the news may help them find her sooner, he had a feeling it was causing more harm than actually helping.  Certainly, the paparazzi surrounding the mansion were causing havoc like always.  He wished those pests, who called themselves journalists, would leave them alone for once.

* * *

Felicity couldn’t hear anything much, other than the sound of her dress flapping about in the wind and her kidnapper’s breaths falling close behind her.  Her legs were shaky from climbing all those stairs – about 240 of them.  Yes, she had counted.  She had thought it would help her find out where she was somehow.  But, more so, it was a way of distracting herself from the dire circumstances she was in.  Either way, if her math was correct, she figured she was probably standing upon a rooftop of a building, approximately 15 stories high.

“Let’s take these off of you, shall we?”  The man finally ripped the blindfold off her eyes.

She blinked to adjust her eyes to the light.  Yet, without her glasses most things were just colors and shapes.  However, she could make out enough to realize that she had been right.  She indeed was on a rooftop of a building. An abandoned one, by what she could gather.  She was standing so close to its edge, she could see the blurry lights of the traffic below.  Maybe it was the threat of the man standing behind her, she didn’t feel as afraid of heights as she normally would have been.

Her eyes sought out the QC building.  It was the tallest one in Starling and wasn’t that far away from where they were.  So, it wasn’t that difficult to spot it even without her glasses.  The mere sight of that lifeless structure gave her a sense of hope and courage, and she knew exactly why.

“Enjoying the sights, Miss Smoak?”

An icy wind blew across Felicity’s face and she quickly turned her head to look at her captor.  Her near vision wasn’t that bad.  However, it was little bit too dark up there on the rooftop, so she couldn’t recognize the man at first glance.  She squinted, in attempt to give a name to the hard contours she saw of the man.

He gripped her wrist tightly and drew her closer to him.  She saw him then.  His greedy eyes and crooked smile. “Sebastian?”

“Surprised?”  He had turned the voice synthesizer device off, but for some reason she found his real voice even more disturbing.

“Why are you doing this?”  She had always thought Sebastian Blood to be a materialistic and an egotistical man – most people involved in show business usually were.  Nonetheless, she didn’t understand what Sebastian was trying to accomplish by kidnapping her.  Was it for the ratings or had the man simply gone crazy?  Because, Felicity Megan Smoak didn’t have that much money on her bank account and neither did her mother living in Vegas.

“For revenge!”  Sebastian shoved her against the railing behind her.  One more push and she was certain, she would fall off.

“For what?” she asked.  From where she was now, she could see his face very clearly.  Anger, hatred and pain, was all she saw in him.  “What did I ever do to you?”  She tried to get herself free, but it was of no use.  More she struggled, harder he gripped her wrist.

“Not you, Miss Smoak!”  He smiled as he ran the gun on her face.  “Your boyfriend.”

“Oliver?  But… why?”  Shivering under the cold metal, she slowly shifted her head to the side – away from Blood’s vengeful gaze.

“For what he did to my Care Bear... to my Carrie.  She was in love with him.”  He took half a step back, yet the gun still lingered on Felicity’s neck.  “She tried so hard to be one of those girls Oliver Queen liked to keep around.  She tried so much… every day!  Every God damn day!”  His voice broke and his hand loosened a little on her wrist.

“And you… you were… you were her-”

Sebastian lowered the hand which held the gun until it settled on her chest.  “I was her friend.  Her best friend!  And I was…”  He closed his eyes forcefully as if he was trying to suppress a memory that had been haunting him for years.

Felicity wasn’t sure whether asking any more questions would make things worse or better.  So, she stayed still and quiet, allowing him to tell his story at his own pace.

“I was in love with her.”  He opened his eyes again, but they seemed to be wandering off into some other moment in time.  “But, she never knew.  I could never tell her.  I was afraid I’ll lose my friend, if I ever told her the truth.”

In some twisted way, Felicity felt as if she could somewhat relate with what this crazed man felt.  Even if she had not realized it, all this time she too had been living with same sort of fears and insecurities.

“And I didn’t want to hear her say she would choose Oliver Queen over me.”  Anger seared in his eyes and he clasped Felicity’s wrist firmly again.  The gun slowly came up to rest on her pulse point and his finger began to twitch upon the trigger.

She quickly shut her eyes thinking the gun would go off any second.

“So, I never told her.  But, Oliver Queen had this amazing woman in love with him and he never cared!  He ignored her!  He broke her heart!  And just like he broke her heart, I’m going to break his heart!”

She slowly peeled her eyes open.  “By... by killing me?” she asked timidly.

He let go of her wrist and hauled her closer by her hair, so that her face was just mere inches away from his.  “By throwing you off this building,” he breathed the words into her face and she squirmed as his coarse breath touched her skin.

“That’s how Carrie died.  That’s how my Care Bear died!  She jumped off from this very building.  Five years ago, tonight.  He’s going to lose the woman he loves, just like I lost the woman I loved.”  He grinned as if he was imagining Felicity’s death.

“Then you’ve got the wrong woman!”  She glared up at him and saw his deranged smile slowly turn into a frown.  “There was and is nothing going on between Oliver and I.  And most certainly, I’m not the woman he loves!  Everything was all an act!”  Her gut twisted at her own declaration and she couldn’t control the tears streaming down her cheeks.

  
_‘Another Olicity Moment?’_ she remembered Oliver mumble right before pressing his lips against hers.  Why would he say that if he wasn’t just playing for the audience?  Would he have kissed her if he didn’t have to execute plan C?  But, every little thing that had happened prior to that moment seemed so real.  The spark of electricity she felt every time their lips touched, couldn’t have been just she being delusional, could it?  Her eyes drifted off to somewhere faraway as she tried to understand, why she herself wasn’t so convinced that everything had been just an act.

“You honestly think I’m going to fall for that?  I’m a reality TV show producer, Miss Smoak.  I have a trained eye for spotting what’s real and what’s not.  I know when someone is being fake in front of the camera and when someone is not!”  Sebastian let go of her hair and held her face up, by her chin - forcing her to look only at him.

“I was only on the show, because you were short of a contestant and you know that!”

“True.  But, it wasn’t by coincidence that we were short of a contestant.  Just like it wasn’t by coincidence that one of my assistants suggested you to be on the show.”  He caught her by her arm and dragged her towards the rusty old billboard frame fixed upon the rooftop.

“You see, Miss Smoak, before I ever approached you with the idea… before I laid this trap for Mr. Queen, I spent a lot of time observing him.  I followed every piece of news and gossip about your boyfriend.  I went to every party and gala he went to.  And, you know what I saw.  This pretty little blonde woman, who was always by his side.  The way he searched the room for her, whenever she wasn’t around.  The way he smiled when he finally spotted her.  Then I realized, I have to somehow include you into the show.”

“You’ve made a mistake!  I’m his EA and I have to be there with him,” she tried to reason with Sebastian.  Although, in truth, if it was not directly business related, she had never ‘had’ to be anywhere with Oliver, she had just wanted to be there for him.  She knew how much Oliver dreaded those parties and she had just wanted to be by his side and make him smile whenever she could.

98% of the time she was there by choice and the other 2% was because she couldn’t say no to Oliver’s pleading eyes.  Either way, they never hung around at those parties for that long.  They both would almost always sneak out and go to Big Belly Burger or back to her place and order Chinese.

“Are you trying to convince me that there is nothing going on between the two of you?  No one is ever that dedicated to their job, Miss Smoak.  No EA would jump in front of an iron rod to save their boss!”

“That… that was you?  That night… the boat…in Thailand?”

“No, but I would like to think that it was Carrie’s spirit, seeking vengeance in her own way.”  The hatred, rage and the pain he had been harboring seemed to have made him demented, delusional.  After a deep sigh and a long pause he started to speak again.  “He’s going to pay for what he did to her.  He’s going to lose you.  The woman he loves.”

“It was all for the show!” she again pleaded with Sebastian to believe her.

He rolled his eyes.  “I find that very hard to believe.  No boss ever cares about their EAs so much so to ever accompany them to meet their father at Arkham Asylum.  No one cares about their EAs to get their name tattooed on their shoulder.”

It meant happy!  She never wanted to find a deeper meaning to the simple Japanese kanji than what it was supposed to mean.  She had been scared that giving that tattoo another meaning would make her dream of things that would never be realized.

Sure, he had accompanied her to see her father, but -“That was because-“ She  was stuck.  What he had done that day, how he had been there for her that night meant a lot to her.  She really couldn’t bring herself to describe it as a boss being nice to their employee or a friend being a friend.  It was far more than that.

“I’ve done my homework, Miss Smoak.  He is different around you.  I saw the camera feed of you two, after Mike left that message in Isabel’s room.  He is protective of you.  I know what I saw.  He didn’t care much about the safety of any of the other girls.  And that was what really confirmed to me that you’re the one who should be here.”

“So, you were behind that, too?”  Everything now made sense to her.  It had been Sebastian all along - from abruptly changing the concept of the show, to those strange messages in their rooms.  She didn’t know much about Mike, but he definitely looked like a man who could easily be manipulated to do one’s biddings.

“I needed to know for sure.  I figured that was the best way to find out who Oliver Queen loved.  By finding out whom he wanted to protect the most…. So, I blackmailed Mike into scaring all of you.  But, I have to say, I was a little disappointed when you didn’t react to the message Mike left for you.  I thought my plan wasn’t going to work.  But, luckily in the end, it all worked out.  And, here we are…”  Pushing the gun deep into her throat, he looked down at the traffic below as if to calculate whether the fall would be enough to truly kill her.  Then, probably satisfied by the height, he let out a breath.

“But, I’ll be honest, Miss Smoak, before I ever knew about you, I was sure it was going to be Laurel standing here with me tonight... Because, of all those old stories I found on the tabloids.  Because, she looked more his type… ”

“You’re right.  I’m not his type… Just like Carrie wasn’t.  He doesn’t really care about me.  I’m just his EA.  Nothing more!”  She didn’t know how convincing she may how sounded, but she had to say something and try to change his mind.

“Now, now, Miss Smoak, don’t try to twist my words on me.  I’m not that stupid.  We both know it’s you. I don’t think you know this… but I think you’ll be happy to know…. he broke things off with Laurel the other night – for good.  So I know it’s definitely not Laurel!  Or Isabel or Mckenna, or Helena.”  Smiling, he shook his head at the mention of Helena.  “Oh, poor, Helena.  She was just all talk.  She came to me asking for another shot at winning Oliver Queen’s heart.  And I thought I could use her for my advantage.  But, as soon as she realized what I was up to, she was going to go to the police.  So I had to get rid of her.”

“You killed her?”  She clasped the skirt of her dress, unsure how to react to that information.

“Well, I tried to…” he admitted.  “But, I don’t think she would be saying anything to the police anytime soon.”

“You think they are not going to find out?  About what you did to Helena and what you’re going to do to me?”  Felicity helplessly stared at Sebastian as he brought the gun up to her forehead.

“Oh, no, I fully intend on letting Oliver Queen know, why his beloved Felicity is going to fall from a rooftop tonight.”

* * *

The phone rang in Oliver’s hand.  It was an unknown caller.  Oliver looked to his right where Quentin Lance and his fellow officers were.

While Oliver’s family watched on, in both fear and hope, the officer in charge of tracking the calls got to work.  A silent agreement passed between them before Oliver pressed the big green answer button on the screen.

“Hello, Oliver Queen.”  He put the call on speakerphone, so that the police could hear the conversation.

_“Oliver!”_

Relief washed over him at the sound of Felicity’s voice.  The anxiety that had been building in his chest for the last few hours, made it difficult for him to get the next words out.  “Felicity!  Are you alright?  Where are you?”

“I’m… I’m alright, but he’s-” Oliver heard her scream as the kidnapper perhaps snatched the phone away from her.

  
_“Hello, Mr. Queen?”_  His voice was digitally altered and it appeared unnaturally deep and low.

Rage simmered inside of him and he closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself.  “Who is this?”

_“That’s not important, Mr. Queen.  What’s important is that I have your girlfriend.”_

His hand tightened around the phone.  “If you hurt her, I’m going to-“

  
_“And you told me he doesn’t care about you, Miss Smoak,_ ” the unknown man teased.

“What do you want?”  He would give anything to make sure she was alive and safe.  Even if it was his whole trust fund or even if he had to pay with his own life, he was ready.

“ _Simply for you to know, in a few more minutes your precious girlfriend is going to die because of you.  The same way my sweet Care Bear did… She’s going to fall off this building and break her neck and die!_ ”  The man’s wicked laugh rang in Oliver’s ear.

“What are you talking about?  Who are you?” Oliver asked.  A horrific image of Felicity’s lifeless body flashed in front of his eyes and it momentarily stunned him into silence.  He turned to Quentin Lance in his daze.  The officer next to him was still tracking the call.  Behind them, Thea was in tears and so was his usually stoic mother.  He could vaguely see Walter standing beside his mother with his arm around her shoulder.

“ _I told you that’s not important!”_  


__****

****

“Let me talk to her!”  He just wanted to talk to her one more time - tell her that he love her.

  
_“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.  And tell Detective Lance to stop trying to trace my call!”_  With that, he hung up.

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t track him down.  He was probably using some kind of a program to distort the signal,” the officer who had been tracing the call, explained.

“Shit!”  Oliver in his desperation punched the wall next to him.

“Oliver, calm down… we’ll find her.”  He heard his mother cry in the background.

“Do you have any idea who he is talking about?” Lance asked.

“I… I’m not sure… I can’t remember.”  He had no clue whatsoever about whom Felicity’s kidnapper was talking about.  Was it someone he had dated?  Was it someone he had cheated on?  He didn’t know if he believed in Karma, but he had always felt that his past actions - the cheating, the lying and the betrayals may one day catch up with him.  However, he hadn’t ever imagined a scenario this dreadful.  He hadn’t imagined someone else paying for his sins.  Certainly not Felicity!  Not her!  Not his Felicity!

“Think!  Think, Queen, think! ” Lance urged.

“I’m sorry…” Nothing came to his mind.  He couldn’t remember anyone that went by the nickname Care Bear.

“Garry, find out any females, ages between 18 to probably 35 that died either falling or jumping off a building, in the last ten years.  There can’t be that many,” the detective ordered one of his men.

“Yes, Sir!” the officer replied.

“Get every possible chopper you can to check the area!” Oliver ordered Walter as he grabbed his keys and his jacket.

“Queen, where are you going?” Lance ground out.

“I’m going to try and find her!”

“Oliver…” Walter tried to stop him, but he just walked passed him.

“Queen, don’t do anything stupid!” Lance warned as Oliver marched out of the house.

* * *

They have been waiting there on top of the building for a long time and Felicity realized there may not be anything more frustrating than waiting for your imminent death.  “What are you waiting for?”  She was tired, mentally and physically. All she wanted was to go home, to Oliver.  And maybe sleep cuddling him on her couch.  But, she knew that any of it may not ever happen now.

“For that clock to turn 11:55.”  He turned her head towards the clock tower.  “That’s when Carrie died… at 11.55.”

The clock face was large enough for her to guess the time.  It was still 11:25.  She had only thirty more minutes to live.

* * *

 

Oliver didn’t know where the man had taken Felicity.  Even so, he had a hunch that maybe the building Felicity’s kidnapper had chosen was the QC building.  So, he had the whole security department searching the building, while he himself looked for her on every floor.  But, unfortunately his theory was found wrong.  There was no sign of them anywhere.

He retreated to his office.  With the staff and the security guards now gone, the floor was hauntingly quiet.  He fell into his chair, feeling overwhelmed.  His eyes wandered towards Felicity’s desk.  If she had been there with him, he knew she wouldn’t ever let him even think about giving up.

He imagined her there - typing away and chewing on her favorite red pen, from time to time.  Sometimes, he would sit in his chair and gaze at her for no reason.  More often than not, she would catch him and would flash him a smile, before turning her attention back to her computer.

He strolled over to her desk.  Few of her things were rearranged by the EA who had filled in for her.  He moved them back to their original places.  The replica of her favorite coffee mug always sat to her right, so that she could reach for it easily.  The teddy bear hugging a heart, he had won for her at the Carnival last year, always sat to her left.

Oh, how happy she had been that night, when the small toy arrow hit the bull’s-eye and the carnie handed her the small teddy bear.  She had been so impressed with his archery skills, she had put her arms around his neck and smacked her lips on his cheek.  It was when Thea had cleared her throat beside them that Felicity grasped what she had done.  He remembered smiling at her cute ramble, which ensued shortly afterwards.

Out of the blue, the phone on Felicity’s desk rang, jerking Oliver back to reality.  “Hello?”

  
_“Hello, Oliver?”_ the voice on the other end of the line said.

“Mckenna?”

“ _I heard everything on the radio and I thought I would come here to the precinct to help out.  And I came across some information on a 25 year old woman named Carrie Cutter.  She jumped off a building and died five years ago, tonight.  Did you know her in anyway_?” Mckenna asked.

“Carrie Cutter?”  He paused to think.  A redheaded woman with green eyes came to his mind.  “I think I remember her.  I remember seeing the news about her death on TV.  She was paparazzi, wasn’t she?  She used to follow Tommy and me around back in the day.”  He could remember her shouting his name and asking him to pose for her camera.  Sometimes he did, but sometimes he used to ignore her, just like he used to ignore all the other cameras there.  “But, what does her suicide have to do with me?  I’ve never even talked to her.”

“ _Yes, but it says on her file… that according to her shrink she was obsessed with a man, who she believed was her soulmate.  It says here that she was famous for making up stories about this man.  But…. it looks like no one was ever able to find out who this mystery man was…. Her house in the Glades was burned down the exact same night and it was suspected that she may have done something to start the fire before she killed herself.  So, the police was never able to prove why she really killed herself…. or find the name of the man, who she was obsessed with._ ”

“So you think Carrie Cutter was obsessed with me?”  It made no sense and made so much sense at the same time.  Carrie Cutter did have that look in her eye that made her appear less than normal.  The timeline did sort of fit with the time, when he was all over the tabloids with Laurel.  She could have lost hope and just thought to end her life.  But, then again it was hard to believe anyone would be so crazy as to kill themselves over a man they barely knew.

“ _Wait, I think there’s more_.”  Oliver could hear Mckenna typing, probably looking up more information on Carrie Cutter.  “I _t says that she also used to write for one of those romance advice columns… And… and her penname was Care bear!  Oh, shi_ t!” Mckenna gasped.  “ _Sebastian Blood!  He was the one who has identified her body_!”

“Sebastian?”  Oliver was beyond shocked.  No doubt her never thought of Sebastian Blood to be a trustworthy man, but this was unexpected.  “Tell me exactly when and where this happened?”

“ _The old Stellmoor International Building.  Time of death approximately 11:55pm_.   _Ollie, wait for the police!  I’ll try to send a helicopter…_ ” Mckenna shouted.

He hastily checked his watch.  There were only fifteen more minutes left.  “It could be too late by then, I have to go!”  He threw the phone aside and ran towards the elevator.

* * *

“Just few more minutes, Miss Smoak!” Sebastian reminded Felicity as he once again walked her to towards the railing.  “Are you ready?” he asked, looking over at the clock tower one more time.

“If I say no, will you change your mind about the whole thing?”  She dug up the last bit of sass left in her.

His laugh resonated within the empty space.  “This is why our audience loves you so much.”

Call it an act of bravery, stupidity or desperation, she twisted her body around and somehow grabbed the gun from him.  “Stay back!”  Hands trembling and knees shaking, she stood before Sebastian, with the gun pointed at him.

* * *

Oliver sped through the street in his Ducati.  The skyline was dark and misty.  He could hardly spot anything on the top of the old Stellmoor building, yet his eyes constantly ran up there as he maneuvered the bike through the traffic.

He stopped in the front of the building with just few minutes to spare.  He could just about see Felicity’s silhouette up on the roof and he called out to her.  “Felicity!”  At the height they were in, it seemed that she wasn’t able to hear him.  So, without wasting any more time, he rushed inside the deserted building.

The elevators were out of order and it seemed the stairs were the only way up.  He ran up the steps as fast as he could.  With only a couple of more floors to go, his legs began to give up, but his heart just didn’t allow him to.  The thought of seeing her face again, seeing her smile, egged him on.

“Felicity!”  He kicked opened the small door, which led to the roof.  All he heard in response was a gunshot and a scream – her scream.  “Felicity!” he yelled, expecting, wanting, needing to hear her voice, but he heard nothing.

“You’re too late, Mr. Queen.”  Blood was seeping through Sebastian’s crisp white shirt as he crawled towards the gun.

“Where is she?”  Oliver kicked the gun away and grabbed Sebastian by his collar - lifting the wounded man few inches off the floor.

“With Carrie…” He smiled slyly at him.

Oliver’s heart pounded fast as he looked around for her.  She wasn’t there.  All he could find was one of her shoes, stuck in a little crack upon the cement floor.  “This can’t be happening!  She is not… she has to be alive!” he chanted as he jumped over Sebastian and collected the lone shoe.

“She’s gone.”  Covering his bullet wound with his hand, Sebastian rolled over to face him.

“No!  Felicity!” he cried as he looked over the railing.  He didn’t want to believe he had lost her.  ”Felicity!”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is not the last chapter. There will be one more.
> 
> This is not beta read yet, so there maybe a lot of mistakes, but I thought I update because the last update was on December.

**Chapter 13**

Felicity dared to look down. “Oh! God! This can’t be happening!” Her attempts to control her breathing only seemed to be making her breath even more erratically.

Countless times, she had envisioned meeting her end at the bottom of some kind of a tall structure or another. Had she not by some miracle, grabbed a hold of the gargoyle on the side of the building, she knew those horrible nightmares would have already become a reality. She wouldn’t have dropped just six floors, but fifteen, if not for the scary eagle headed gargoyle staring down at her.

However, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold on to the eagle head forever. She thought that this may be it. She could die.

She could die and Oliver would never know that she was in love with him. She was going to die without ever knowing if anything had happened that crazy night between her and the man she loved.

 “Frack! Frack! Frack!”  On top of everything, she discovered that she was missing a shoe. Sure, it was something trivial, compared to the life and death situation she was in. But, she realized, focusing on the missing Manolo Blahnik was distracting her from the whole, ‘ _I'm afraid of heights and I'm hanging more than 100ft above ground’_  thing.

Besides, she had always treasured those heels. Not because it was crazy expensive and the inside of it felt like heaven, but because it was a gift from Oliver’s mother.

Moira Queen gifting something to one of her employees was simply unheard of. So, Felicity had somehow gotten it into her head that keeping those shoes safe would prove some kind of a point to her. And, now seeing that she had lost one of those precious shoes, she couldn’t help but feel as if she had failed miserably to prove that point – whatever that point may have been.

She kept staring at her dangling feet, recalling the day she had gotten those shoes. She remembered stepping out of the QC elevator, on a one fine Monday and finding the pair of red heels sitting on her desk.

 

>  “ _Miss Smoak,_
> 
> _Sorry that you had to accompany us on the camping trip on such notice, last Friday. I know you were not prepared for an outing like that. And I’m sorry that you had to go home with a broken shoe and a sprained ankle. I hope this would compensate for that. And I hope this little incident wouldn’t deter you in joining us on our family trips in the future._
> 
> _Moira Queen._ ”

Felicity still didn’t know what to think of the note she had found tied to one of the shoe straps. Had Moira been afraid, that she would sue them for the sprained ankle? Or had Moira simply tried to act cordial towards her because Oliver considered her a friend?

Only Moira Queen would write such a cryptic note and leave a pair of rather expensive shoes on top of her son’s EA’s desk. Then again, her son wasn’t so bad at writing confusing little notes either. “ _Thanks for the info. P.S. I miss my EA.”_  Felicity scoffed thinking about the note Oliver had slipped into her pocket not so long ago.

“No! Felicity!”

She quickly looked up to the sound of Oliver’s voice - her heart filled with a feeling of joy, she couldn’t really put into words.

 “Felicity!” He cried again.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she searched the shadowy rooftop. “Oliver! I’m down here!”  she shouted at the big cloud of grey, which she assumed to be Oliver.

“Felicity! Are you alright?” his voice was a mixture of fear and relief as he leaned a little, over the railing to get a better view of her.  

“I’m afraid of heights and my fingers are slipping. I don’t think I will be alright for that long!” She could barely even make out his silhouette, but she spotted something bright red next to him. “Oh, you found my shoe!” She added somewhat excitedly.

“What?”

“Your mom gave it to me!” she couldn’t really see his face, but she imagined him rolling his eyes at her. The sense of ease she felt in their small conversation thinned her fears even more and she managed to curve her lips into something close to a smile.

“I’m going to find something to get you out of there. So, just hang in there!”

“Was there a pun intended there?” she asked, willing herself to keep looking up and not down.

“Maybe,” with that he disappeared, leaving her shoe on top of the railing.

“Oliver?”  The wind blowing across the building made her shiver. Her shoeless foot was turning ice cold, while the toes on her other foot curled inside of the shoe, in attempt to keep themselves warm.

“Oliver!” She yelled once again. The longer he took to return, more nervous Felicity became. Sebastian Blood was still out there – wounded, but still alive, at least when she had seen him last. And, she began to worry that Sebastian may have done something to Oliver. She kept imagining a bleeding Sebastian attacking Oliver from behind and pushing him off the building.

“Felicity! There’s no way to get to you through the windows!”

She breathed a sigh of relief, when Oliver reappeared after a while - wrapping something white around his middle.

“So, I’m going to tie myself to this fire hose, and then I’m going to come and get you.” he stepped over the railing.

“I know you’re good at rock climbing. Oliver. But, you’re not either Bruce Willis from Die Hard or some kind of a super hero. So, please wait ‘til the cops get here!”

Yet, Oliver wasn’t listening. He started to climb down, along the wall. He really could be very stubborn at times – most times, honestly. Especially, when it concerned someone he cared about.

Felicity could so vividly remember a very worried Oliver Queen storming into the ER against doctors’ orders when Thea had been hospitalized for drug overdose.

Felicity had only just joined as his EA and it may have been the first time she had seen that protective side of Oliver Queen, full throttle. She hadn’t been surprised by it though. By then she had already seen glimpses of that Oliver peering through the playboy persona he had tried to maintain. However, she had found it surprising that she, practically a nobody to him at the time, had been able to tug him out of the ER, when no one else could.

But, tonight she wasn’t in a position to do anything much, other than try and say something to stop him from doing something stupid. “Thea’s going to hate me if something happens to you!” Felicity said in the most threatening voice she could muster in that moment.

“She’s going to hate me more, if I let something happen to you.” he retorted.

“I don’t want you to get hurt because of me! Oliver, I-,“ her fingers were starting to go numb and she was losing her strength. Oliver wasn’t going to make it to her in time and she didn’t want to see anything happen to him while trying to save her. So, she decided that it would be best if she would just let go. “Oliver! I love you!” she finally shouted out the words she had wanted to say to him for the last couple of days –no, weeks - no, years, really. She just wished she could have seen what expression was playing on his face when she had said those words.

“Don’t you dare let go Felicity! I’ll hate you forever, if you let go! I’m almost there. Just hold on!” He demanded.

She couldn’t have him hating her. The mere thought had her heart twisting. Even if she would be dead and gone, it was somehow worse than the thought of him not being in love with her. So, she held on tightly just like Oliver wanted her to.

“Just keep talking to me. Don’t think about where you’re,” he began to slide down faster towards her.

“I know this is going to sound very unprecedented coming from me, but I don’t know what I should talk about.”

“Tell me a happy story.” He told her.

There were so many. Most of them included Oliver – at her apartment, at QC, at the Queen Mansion. Most of them would seem mundane activities to anyone else and wouldn’t probably constitute as stories. Yet, they were happy stories to her. Oliver bringing her coffee in the morning. Playing scrabble with him. Eating dim sum in his office. Once he had even painted her toe nails, after she had cut her finger trying to make him dinner. He had totally ruined her toes that night, but it was endearing to see the CEO of QC, more focused on painting her toe nails than he had ever been in any of those board meetings.

Still, for some reason she wasn’t able to pick one happy story. “But, I can’t!”   

“Then tell me how you lost your shoe!” 

“Ok. I guess, I can do that,” she steeled herself and tried to think back to the moment when she had that gun in her hand. “I was… I was pointing the gun at Sebastian. He dared me to shoot him. He told me I couldn’t do it. He told me I wouldn’t be able to.”

Sebastian hadn’t been wrong. She had never held a gun before that moment and her hands had been shaking at the sheer idea of pulling that trigger. She had just wanted to make sure he kept his distance and nothing else. She never intended to shoot him.

“Then I heard a sound… maybe it was you… I don’t know. When I turned around Sebastian just jumped at me. I… I just panicked and I pulled the trigger…” The sound had been so horrifying, she had let go of the gun. Fortunately for her, the gun had somehow skidded away, out of Sebastian’s reach.“I think my shoe must have gotten stuck on something on the floor. I remember losing my balance and I just… I tumbled over the railing.” she also remembered Sebastian Blood smiling at her, as she fell off the rooftop. She also remembered feeling relieved that she hadn’t actually killed someone.

What if she had been wrong? 

“I shot a man Oliver! I shot someone!” Felicity began to hyperventilate. Her chest tightened, picturing Sebastian's blood-sodden body crawling towards her and accusing her for killing him.

“No! Felicity! You didn’t do anything wrong. The bastard is still alive!”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. He's hurt and he can't move, but he's alive,” Oliver assured her and she felt her breathing slow down.

But, her legs were starting to feel heavier and the strain on her hands was becoming too much to bear. “Oliver, I don’t think, I can hold on anymore…I tried, I really did try. Don’t hate me.” just as she closed her eyes, just as she was about to give up, she felt his arm wrap itself around her – securing her body to his.

“Shh… shh… I got you. And I could never hate you. I just didn’t want you to let go.” He uttered into her hair.

Felicity carefully opened her eyes. She didn’t know how desperate she had been to see those blue eyes of his again, until she saw them boring into her own.

“Are you alright?” he asked in the softest of voices.

“I’ve been better,” she mumbled,her words eliciting one of those sexy half grins out of him.

She smiled along, only until she remembered those three words, she had screamed out from the top of her lungs earlier. “Oliver, about what I said… when…  when people are in high pressure situations they tend to say things that they… well-”

He cut her ramblings off with a kiss - one that was so intense, so passionate, she completely forgot that they were both dangling in air and that she was also missing one very significant shoe.

He pulled away slowly, leaving her breathless and wanting more. “Felicity, I love you,” panting, he rested his forehead on top of hers. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time. Maybe you’re right… maybe I’ve been in love with you from the moment you spilled that drink on me. It just… it just feels like I’ve always been in love with you. Feels like I’ve been in love with you before I had even met you,” he confessed, his voice heavy with emotion and his grip tightening around her waist.

“Oliver… I’ve…” her breath hitched as she tried to process what she had just heard. She then started over,  “Oliver, I’ve been in love with you since -  I don’t know when, but, I love you.” She didn’t know when she had draped her arms around him, but she had. Her life was literally in Oliver’s hands and she had never felt safer.

He kissed her once again, soft and slow. “Love you.” He moaned into her lips.

 “Hey, do you two love birds need a ride?” John Diggle was yelling from the ‘Billionaire Bachelor’ chopper.

Oliver and Felicity, both looked up at the helicopter hovering above them.

“Or should we circle the block few more times and come back later?” Diggle dropped two rescue strops for them.

“No! I don’t want go in that thing!” Felicity buried her face in Oliver’s chest to hide from the spotlight aimed at their faces.

“As much as I would love to continue what we were doing, I’d rather continue it some place more private – someplace where your life is not in danger,” He whispered in her ear. 

The protective tone in Oliver's voice caused a warm feeling to fizz inside of her. She wanted nothing more than to be somewhere alone with him, but she didn’t want to get herself strapped onto what looked like another death trap. “No!” She was adamant.

“Just trust me. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised, his voice so sure and full of love.

She gazed up at him. She thought back to the day they had climbed that rock. Where he had made the same promise and made sure she had gotten to the top safely. She trusted him then, she trusted him still and she would always. “Ok,” she nodded, confidently.

He placed a chaste kiss upon her lips before strapping her onto one of the strops. “You’ll be alright,” he fastened the other rescue strop around his waist. Then, after undoing the fire hose he had tied around him, he wrapped both his arms around her. ”Ready!” he gave a signal to Diggle.

As they were being pulled up into the helicopter Felicity spotted the SCPD chopper arrive at the scene. She thought she saw Sebastian still rolling around the ground, as the cops surrounded the roof. “Our tax dollars, finally at work.” She mused out loud.

Oliver’s chest rumbled behind her as he chuckled at her words, “Felicity?”

“Hmm?”

They were already inside the helicopter, when she turned to look at him.

“Are you alright?” he pulled her into his lap and she curled into his warm body.

“I think so,” she groaned noticing the camera pointed at her.

“Turn that thing off!” Oliver barked at the cameraman, covering Felicity's face with a hand and drawing her closer to his chest.

“Turn it off!” At Diggle’s orders the cameraman switched the camera off and sat back quietly.

Someone put a blanket over both of them and Felicity snuggled even closer to Oliver. “Your mother’s going to hate me for losing that shoe,” she mumbled groggily, glancing down at the remaining heel.

 “I doubt that. She was really worried about you. Everyone was. But, I guess I can ask Detective Lance to get it back for you, if you want?” He began to rub soothing circles on her back and she found herself drifting off into asleep.  

 “That would be great,” she closed her eyes, but she didn’t miss the kiss Oliver pressed onto the top of her head as she fell asleep. “I love you,” she slurred.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys here's the last chapter. Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long.I can't believe it took me this long to write 14 chapters, but finally it's done. Not edited again. Thanks so much for all the subscriptions, kudos and comments.
> 
> IMPORTANT : ****RATINGS CHANGED TO M. Because there's a bit of smut in the end of this chapter. If you're not into reading smut. Then you can stop after the point where it says "Two Weeks Later" If you want to read a no smut version of the last part, let me know, I'll try to find a way to send it to you.*****

If Felicity had her way, the show would have ended the night she was kidnapped, but unfortunately, she didn’t have her way. Few days after her rescue, their contracts were discussed and lawyers had gotten involved, and even then, even after everything that had happened, the network was given the green light to continue with the show. 

The audience needed closure, they said. Give them a chance to prove that they were not in any way involved with Sebastian’s vendetta, they said. Because of one not so justifiable or logical reason or the other and much to Oliver’s discontent, Felicity once again found herself at the Billionaire Bachelor mansion.

“Miss Smoak, it’s time now. Mr. Queen is waiting for you,” one of the production assistants reminded her.

Giving a little nod at the smiling woman, Felicity stepped out of her room. She felt giddy as she walked through the hallway – the tail of her red dress, dragging along the hardwood floor.

Red was Oliver’s favorite color. He had never said it out loud and neither had Felicity ever asked about it. However, she had just always known that Red was his color. So, when the show’s stylist had given her a choice between a blue dress and a red one to wear for the finale, she hadn’t even given it a second thought.

“This way,” another crew member directed her towards the staircase.

Felicity turned the corner, her eyes searching for Oliver. She spotted him, standing at the bottom of the stairs – wearing a tuxedo, possibly with suspenders underneath. There was a hunger in his eyes – a hunger she had in fact seen many times before tonight. Although, it was only now she was able to understand what that look in his eyes truly meant - love and longing - a feral gaze that screamed, ‘Mine!’ But this possessive gaze that he seemed to have kept reserved only for her, had always been more noticeably present whenever she would wear red.

Her mind ran back to the time, she had first seen that look.  It was when she had worn red to the Annual Christmas Ball at QC, three years ago - exactly two weeks after they had met.

That Christmas night, she had gotten all flustered under his gaze and babbled something about, how she had always found men wearing suspenders to be hot.

 _“Then, it’s a good thing I decided to wear suspenders tonight,”_ suppressing a smile Oliver had then held his hand out for her. _“Time for a dance?”_

 _“I guess,”_ blushing furiously, she had taken her boss’s hand and let him lead her to the dance floor. She recalled the jovial Christmas tune suddenly changing into something slow. For a second, she had stood awkwardly in the dance floor forgetting what little ballroom dancing steps she did know.

Then Oliver had pulled her closer to him, “ _Beautiful….”_  She could still remember how her heart had thud against her chest at his voice.  “S _ong_ ,” he had then added a beat later, as if he had sensed her nervousness and wanted her to feel more at ease around him.

It was the first time they had danced together. It was the first time she had dared to dream, how it would feel like to wake up cuddled in those strong arms of his every morning. Sure, it wasn’t the first time she had caught herself fantasizing about her ‘suspender wearing boss’. There were lots of wild sex against his desk and the glass walls of his office, fantasies running on her mind from the moment they had met. Yet, this particular picture she had envisioned as they danced had somehow felt different. More intimate, warm and something she probably had never wanted with any other man before. Never this badly, for sure.  The need, had felt so powerful it had frightened her. It had scared her so much so she had run off, in the middle of their dance. “ _I forgot to light my menorah,”_ She had lied before fleeing the scene.

 This was her first job that allowed her to live in a place that didn’t look like a closet. So, from day one she had been determined to not to ruin it all by falling in lust or especially, in love with her boss.

Oliver had a quite a reputation with women and she didn’t want to be another notch on his belt. Moreover, back then, he was allegedly still in love with Laurel Lance. So, Felicity had tried to keep their relationship as professional as she possibly could. Well, “t _ried”_ seemed to be the correct choice of word. Not that they had ever indulged in any hanky-panky at office time or after hours. Nonetheless, just three weeks after being his EA, they both had dropped the honorifics – using them mostly at QC, when someone was around or whenever they felt like it.

As much as she had _tried_ not to fall in love with him and thought it was a bad idea for her to be with someone like him, secretly, she had been somewhat disappointed to realize that Oliver may not see her nothing more than a good friend. Other than the playful banter they exchanged, Other than the a little teasing gesture here and there, Oliver had never really made a move on her.

Except, maybe he had made a move on her on his last birthday and she just couldn't remember it. The night did somehow end with her red dress and matching underwear thrown across the room.  And, looking back, she realized that same greedy look had been present on his face even that night.

Maybe unconsciously she had been teasing him by flaunting around in all those red dresses, just as he had worn suspenders on more than few occasions, merely to tease her. Anyway, now she finally knew why she had more red dresses and underwear in her closet than necessary. She wasn’t actually expecting her underwear to be seen by him, but she had just never been able to resist buying them.

 “Miss Felicity Smoak,” John Diggle announced her arrival when she took her first step down the staircase.

A strange sense of deja vu struck her.

It felt as if it was just yesterday that Oliver had made her his spy, promising her a month vacation in return. It felt as if it was just yesterday, she had walked down that same staircase, memorizing the awful script Sebastian Blood had given her.

Felicity winced as Sebastian’s name dredged up all the horrible memories of being blind folded and dragged up the old Stellmoor building. She tried to shake the thought away, by focusing on Oliver. He had always been her anchor, even before they both had realized their feelings for each other. He always made her feel safe, protected and loved, even when she used to believe he would never fall for someone like her. He was always there for her, even when she used to believe she was just his girl Wednesday and he was probably still in love with Laurel Lance.

Felicity was at the middle of the stairway when her eyes caught the long legged disbarred lawyer. She was standing few feet back with a rose in her hand and Felicity’s gut twisted at the sight. That rose was supposed to be hers, not Laurel’s! Her eyes immediately shot back to Oliver to learn that he didn’t have another rose with him.

Was this some kind of a joke? A twist pulled by the producers to bring the ratings up?

In the very beginning, Felicity may not have expected to be one of the last two girls standing, but it wasn’t as if she had never daydreamed about Oliver giving her that last rose. And especially, with all that had happened between them within the last few weeks, Felicity was fully expecting that rose to be hers, tonight.

Had she then imagined all of what had happened? The rescue, the declarations of love, the kisses and the way he held her hand, when he took her to meet his family - had all of it been just a dream?

Or, had she been overly presumptuous to think he would actually choose her? After spending almost every passing hour with her for the last week, had Oliver already gotten tired of her? Had he, at the very last moment realized that he would rather be with his gorgeous Laurel?

 No! That just couldn’t be! She trusted him. He loved her just as much as she did. Felicity was sure of it. She shouldn’t even think about doubting him. The last time she had doubted Oliver’s feelings and stormed out, she was kidnapped and had gotten herself almost killed.

 “Felicity … I… we…” Oliver stuttered, when she finally met him at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oliver? Is everything alright? What’s going on?” Her eyes briefly strayed towards Laurel.

 “Felicity Smoak, will you Marry me?” he got down on one knee and pulled a ring out of his pocket.

Felicity’s hand came to rest upon her fast beating heart. “Oliver… that… it’s…” She was only expecting a rose. Not a ring. Not a proposal.

“I know to the rest of the world it might seem like we’ve only gone out on a few official dates. But, if you really think about it we’ve been dating for a while, without really calling them dates… I'm sorry I was an idiot for not doing this sooner. Not making you mine sooner." He was smiling, his eyes were hopeful and happy. “I was on my way over here and I realized I don’t want to spend another moment without you. So, I … so I got this,” He gestured at the ring in his hand. “This just feels right Felicity. I love you. Say yes. Marry me.”

She gulped. He was right. They’ve been dancing around each other too long. This felt right. This was right. “Yes,” She had barely gotten the word out and Oliver had already slipped the ring on her finger.

He stood up and cupped her cheeks. “Love you,” His lips crashed into hers as he pulled her up into his arms. Instantly, she felt as if she was home.

She kissed back with the same force and fervor as him – fingers running through his short scruffy hair.

The production crew began to cheer and even then, it took both of them a while to remember that they had an audience. Grudgingly, yet still smiling, they eventually pulled a part. Oliver put an arm around Felicity and tucked her to his side.

 “Congratulations,” Diggle was the first one to congratulate them.

 “I’m so happy for you.  For both of you,” Laurel came up to them, waving the rose. “I think this belongs to you, I was only holding onto it because Oliver wanted to surprise you with the ring.”  

“Sorry,” Felicity heard Oliver mumble next to her.

Shaking her head at Oliver’s stupid plan, Felicity took the rose from the brunette. “Thank you,”

“I always knew it’s going to be you,” Mckenna appeared from behind the crew.

“Thanks Mckenna… for everything,” If not for Mckenna Felicity knew she may not be even standing there tonight.

Mckenna nodded, “Helena is still recovering and she said she’s sorry she couldn’t be here for the finale.” She looked over Felicity’s head as if she had spotted someone coming their way.

Felicity and Oliver both turned around and saw Isabel approach them with a young man, who Felicity assumed to be her new boyfriend.

“Congratulations,” the former ballerina still had that snobby demeanor about her, but yet, there was also a softness about her that there wasn’t before. Maybe it had something to do with her new beau that kept whispering things to her in French.

 “We have a small surprise for our viewers.” Everyone cleared the main hall at Diggle’s announcement.

 Oliver dragged Felicity away into a corner. 

Felicity stood with her back pressed to his front, his strong arms wrapped around her from behind. “Thank you,” She turned her head slightly and whispered.

 “For what?”

“For rescuing me, for always being there for me, for giving me too many happy stories that I couldn’t pick one… And especially, for turning everything that happened in the show worthwhile,” She looked down at the ring glistening on her finger.  

“I should be thanking you. For always believing in me and for being my happy story. But, if I could do this again, I wouldn’t do this the same way. I wouldn’t put you in the same position. I would make sure your life wasn’t in harms way. Nothing is worth your life Felicity. I don’t ever want to feel the way I felt that night.”

She squeezed his hand to let him know that she was alright now - that she doesn't regret anything that happened between them in the last three years. “But you gave this story a happy ending…"

“This… this is just the beginning, Felicity. I can’t wait ‘til we go back home.” he nuzzled her neck.

A surge of something powerful rushed through her body as she imagined what his words could have insinuated. “Me too,” she mumbled in a shaky, almost inaudible voice and turned her eyes to Diggle, who was about to make another announcement.

“Usually we introduce our next bachelor or bachelorette at the beginning of the new season, but we have changed that this time around,” Diggle walked closer to the staircase and looked up. “So, let’s meet our Bachelorette then.”

A brunette with a bright smile appeared on top of the stairs.

Oliver’s arms stiffened around Felicity’s waist, “Thea? What is she doing? She wants to do this, after everything that happened to you? Does my mother know about this? She’s not even eighteen yet!”

“She’ll be twenty in two months Oliver. And you should know better than anyone how hard it is to stop a Queen when they set their mind to do something.” Twenty, thirty or forty, Felicity knew that to Oliver, Thea would always be his speedy, his little sister. And Felicity absolutely loved that about Oliver.

“You knew about this?”

She ducked her head. “Maybe,” She did know about it, but she had gotten to know only few hours ago. Thea had shown up at the Bachelor Mansion in the morning and told her that she had decided to be the next ‘Billionaire Bachelorette’. The younger Queen had sworn Felicity to secrecy or otherwise she wouldn’t have kept it from Oliver.

“I thought husbands and wives don’t keep secrets from each other,” Oliver argued.

“We just got engaged. Literally less than ten minutes ago!” She was quick to point out the folly in his argument.

“Whatever,” he muttered, placing a kiss on her bare shoulder.

“Let’s meet our first contestant… Bruce Wayne,” Diggle stated, as the prince of Gotham walked into the room.

The low disapproving grumble Felicity heard behind her made her smile. Thea would definitely be getting a lecture from her big brother tonight.

 

* * *

 

 

  _Two weeks later…_

Felicity yelped, as Oliver scooped her up from the large beach mat and into his embrace.  “Oliver!” she turned around in his hold to face him. Despite waking up, snuggling to Oliver’s naked body every morning, since their engagement, feeling the hard planes of his body against her curves still made her blush.

For the last couple of weeks, they’ve been cooped up in one of many private islands owned by the Queen family – far away from the media and paparazzi. The remote island, somewhere in North China Sea, was where Felicity had chosen to spend the vacation Oliver had promised to her, when she had agreed to be his spy. At the time, when she made that deal with Oliver, she hadn’t for a second imagined that she would be spending that vacation with Oliver himself.

They both had barely set a foot outside of their cottage - their bed to be more precise, after arriving at the island. And, today, after two weeks, they’ve decided to lounge on the beach and enjoy the scenery for a change.  “I thought we came here to get some fresh air?” she reminded him.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t hug my wife,” Oliver kissed the tip of her nose.

“Fiancée!” it was the twelfth time he had made that mistake, within the last few days. She was now convinced that he was saying that deliberately, just to get a reaction out of her.

He flipped them around, so that he was lying on top of her. “Soon to be wife,” his sinful gaze that raked over her body made his intentions known.

 “We’ve just only been here five minutes,” and couple of minutes before that, they had been rolling around in bed, lazy hands and eager lips exploring each other.  A warmth rushed through her, at the mere memory of what his very talented tongue had done just few minutes ago in the bedroom. Oliver Queen’s reputation, when it came to activities in bed, wasn’t undeserved at all.

“It’s your fault,” he whined as he pressed his hardened length against her.

“My fault?” She took her lower lip between her teeth.

 “This little red bikini you’re wearing…” he pulled one of the bikini straps off her shoulder with his teeth.  She tried to squeeze her legs together feeling the moist heat building between them.

It would be a lie, if she were to say that she hadn’t anticipated this outcome, when she had put that bikini on. But, she hadn’t expected for it to begin this soon.  “Oliver,” she had meant to call his name in warning, but she had come off sounding horribly needy.

A wicked smirk graced Oliver’s lips as his hand wandered down her body, “and, these little bows…” his hand stopped at one of the bows on the side of her bikini bottom, “they’ve been driving me insane for a while now,” he pulled from the end of the string, untangling it completely from its knot.

 “Agh...” She keened when his callous fingers crept under the material from where the knot was undone. “I know how much you love red,” Her breath hitched as he slowly dragged a finger up her folds, gathering the wetness there. She held onto him tightly, fingers digging into his back. 

She was going to wear a pink one piece swim suit today. Then, when Oliver had come out of the bathroom bearing his chest, clad only in a swim trunk, she had opted to go with her red bikini and a green kaftan instead. He had been so keen to find out what she had under the kaftan. If he had the power to tear things with his eyes, she knew the kaftan wouldn’t have lasted their walk down to the beach.

When she finally had taken the kaftan off, his eyes had turned darker instantly – once again proving to her, that red was his color.

 “Felicity,” He gazed into her eyes.

Something stirred with in her at the way he uttered her name – with so much weight and passion.

“I didn’t know I had a favorite color until I saw you in that red dress at that Christmas party three years ago, I didn’t know I could feel more than half of the things I feel now, until you spilt that red wine on me and then started to babble.” he leaned over and captured her lips.  His mouth was demanding, passionate.

“Oliver…” her body twitched and burned under the gentle caresses of his fingers as they played with her clit. She gripped his arm, where she knew he had her name tattooed.

 He bit on that sweet spot behind her ear, branding her his once again - just as he had marked one of her ass cheeks, last night.

 “I’ve wanted to take this off the moment I saw you in it,” his hand slid behind her, simply to unknot the string that held her bikini top together.

She knew, they were in a private island and she knew they were the only people there. Yet, something about the fact they were outside, in broad daylight, where someone could easily walk in on them, aroused her even more.

He threw the flimsy thing aside and took her left breast into his mouth. He suckled and nipped on her nipple as his fingers continued to tease her sex.

“Oh fuck,” moaning, she grabbed the band of his swim trunk and pushed it down until she could feel his thick cock brush her bare skin. Her hands skated up his firm body, exploring every dip, every plane, every taut muscle.

He gently slithered down her- his kisses leaving a scorching trail up on her skin.

“I… I want you…” her hands wandered down the same path his lips had roamed earlier.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and his tongue moved along his lips copying her.  “Oliver… please…” She ached to feel him inside of her. To feel him move inside of her. To feel him come inside of her.

He untied the remaining bow on her thong, as if he was unwrapping a precious gift. After throwing the underwear over his head, he grabbed her by her thighs and spread her legs further apart.

A shiver ran up her spine feeling his stubble first grace her soft mound. He flicked his tongue against her clit and she couldn’t do nothing but latch onto his hair for purchase. His tongue delved in and twirled inside of her.

Her hips moved to meet his stokes as she tugged him towards her from his hair. She could hear him moan as he tasted her. She could hear the sound of his tongue lapping against her wet skin. The sounds mixed with his ministrations, were taking her closer and closer to the edge - until he suddenly stopped.

“Fuck!” She sought his tongue lifting her hips, only to learn that Oliver was alteady sitting - staring at her.

She could feel her wetness drip down her thighs as her gazed locked with his.

“Felicity, you’re so fucking gorgeous,” He drew her up into his lap.

They both gasped when she straddled him, sinking down into his cock. She could feel one of his hands lay sprawled across her naked back, supporting her as she began to roll her hips. His other hand squeezed her ass as he greedily licked her breasts.

Their slick bodies rocked together and amidst the haze, their mouths managed to find each other once more. She smiled into the kiss, tasting herself in his lips. 

Her breasts brushed against his heaving chest as she continued ride him – lifting her hips, sinking in and pushing towards him. His hands came to settle on her hips as he thrust up hard and fast into her. Shockwaves began to ripple through her and she came screaming a strangled string of curses. Overwhelmed, she collapsed backwards onto the mat, dragging him down with her. He continued to devour her lips as he cupped her breasts with his large hands – messaging, caressing them.

He pushed deeper into her, seeking his own release. Soon, her name spilled out of his lips as he came inside of her. His movements slowed and he slumped on top of her, burying his head in her bosom.

 Their breaths fell unevenly as they lay still tangled in each other. “Do you ever wonder what really happened that night? On your birthday…” She asked a little while later, raking a hand through his sweat-damp hair.

“I used to, all the time,” He turned to his side, turning her around with him. 

 “Now you don’t?” She gasped as he slowly pulled out of her and pecked her lips.

“I don’t need to anymore,” he winked at her.

It took her a second to understand what his mischievous little gesture meant, “You remember?”

“Maybe…” he drew  lazy patterns on the side of her neck, where he had put his mark on her earler.

She had almost gotten lost in the moment, but something about the way he was touching her now made her think about that strange night she no longer remembered. “When? How? Why didn’t you tell me? Did we do it and was it like super bad?”

“First of all, whatever I do with you could never be called super bad. And I only remembered this morning.” He confessed as he stole another kiss from her lips.

“So, we did do something?” She moaned when he bit down on her collarbone.

“Maybe…”

“Mr. Queen, I thought you said husband and wives are not supposed to keep secrets from each other?” She playfully slapped his chest.

”Well, Mrs. Queen to be…” He wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer to him. “As you’ve pointed out numerous times, we’re not married yet. But I’ll make a deal with you… I’ll tell you everything, if you do a little something for me."

“What?” She lifted her brows at him.

He explained what he wanted her to do to him and what he wanted her to let him  do to her, in the most dirtiest language imaginable.

“Oh?" It was ridiculous how she still blushed, after everything they had done for the last couple of weeks and just few seconds ago. “I might have to think about it Mr. Queen…” She finally managed to say.

“Well, until you make up your mind, maybe we could do this...” He kissed her again.

“hmm…” She hummed in agreement, kissing him back.

He pulled away and lifted her face by her chin. “I love you, Felicity,” 

“I love you more Mr. Queen,” She snuggled closer to him.

“Not possible,” She sensed him smile as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

 

<\---------THE END------------->

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. I don't really write a lot of smut, hope that wasn't disappointing either. And I never really intended to write what happened that night on his birthday. So, will leave it for you guys to speculate and imagine what happened. 
> 
> Finally thanks so much everyone for following this story. You all are awesome. Let me know what you thought of the ending.


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